Take My Heart Back
by Verkaiking
Summary: After having her happy ending snatched away, Regina isolates herself from everyone and gives up hope. Robin struggles to put his family back together after his wife's unexpected return and finds that his heart no longer beats for her like it used to. Meanwhile, something strange is happening to the weather in Storybrooke. Post season 3 finale. Outlaw Queen.
1. Chapter 1

_Alright here goes... hi, everyone! __So, I've been writing fanfic and original stories for years, but I've never actually published anything up until now. I'm very nervous about laying it all out here for the world to see, but there has been some interest in this story from a few people and I figured this was better than just sending the file to each of them individually._

_Now, I don't know about you, but the OUAT season 3 finale had me in tears for days, and then little by little I ended up head-over-heels obsessed with Outlaw Queen (thanks for that, Tumblr). I've LOVED Regina since the very first episode and it hurts me to watch her suffer, so I started this story mostly to have something to find solace in while hiatus took over our lives, I hope I can live up to your standards and that those of you reading this will like it enough to continue =)_

_Disclaimer: all characters belong to ABC, the story and the feels are all mine._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 1_  
_**

* * *

Three days. It had been three days since he had last seen her, hurrying out the door at Granny's on the night prince Neal's birth was celebrated. He knew why she'd left, and he knew that on some level, he ought not to be so hung up on her retreating form, but he couldn't help it, he missed her.

He stared into the fireplace as he remembered sitting on the floor next to her, his fingers playing with her hair as she related the story of her first love, as she told him how after his death, she had closed herself off to everyone until she met him.

Robin couldn't deny that he felt something for Regina, the pull was there since the moment he first saw her, and it drew him to her still. But seeing his wife alive, being able to hold her after years of telling himself it was impossible, it stirred old feelings in his soul, and memories of the happy life he had built with Marian before he lost her flooded his mind, making him stop dead in his tracks that night as he watched Regina go. He felt guilty for not going after her, he felt guilty for _wanting_ _to_ go after her. It was a bizarre situation.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Roland, who crawled into his arms and quietly held his father, no doubt trying to chase away whatever nightmare had awoken him.

"Here, I'll take him," he heard Marian say as she rose from her seat in the kitchen table, but as soon as she put her arms around her son, he scurried away from her touch and cuddled further into Robin.

"It's alright, I don't mind," he replied quietly, holding on to his son as he gave his wife an apologetic look. Despite their excited meeting at the diner, Roland was being skittish around Marian. He was still a baby when they lost her, so there was nothing he could draw on to rehash some long lost relationship with her. Robin could see that Marian was hurting for it, but he didn't know what to do. Roland didn't know her, he had never really known a mother, so how could he instantly embrace her presence?

"He just needs time to get used to you, my darling," he'd told her the first time Roland had denied her a hug, and she had cried herself to sleep that night, missing her baby.

"Papa, have I been bad?" Roland asked in his sleepy haze.

"Of course not! Why would you think that?"

The little boy shrugged in response and shifted himself to lie more comfortably in his father's arms, falling asleep again in seconds. Robin made a mental note to question him about this again when he was more alert.

He tucked him in bed a few minutes later, making his way to the living room afterwards and finding Marian sitting on one end of the couch, staring off into space while silent tears stained her cheeks. He sat down next to her and ran his hand up and down her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"He doesn't know me. My own son doesn't know me," she broke the silence, letting more tears fall as she hugged her husband.

"Shh, it's alright, he just needs time to adapt, he was but a newborn when we last saw you."

"I just… I never thought I'd see him again and not being able to hold him hurts so much!" she wept into his shoulder.

"He'll be fine, just let him get used to having you around."

This is what happened almost every time Marian tried to get close to their son. She would try to be affectionate with him, and he would run away or reject her. It wasn't that he was treating her badly, by any means, but Robin supposed it was just a little overwhelming for Roland to have a mother show up after living without one for so long, and judging by his own feelings, it seemed his son wasn't the only one who was confused by Marian's return to their lives.

* * *

They were back. She could hear them urgently walking up the steps to the front door of the mansion. Sure enough, her doorbell rang seconds later, but she refused to answer it, closing her window with a wave of her hand to muffle the shouts coming from outside.

"Regina!" she heard Emma from the front lawn, "Regina please, you can't just lock yourself up forever… we'll fix this! We'll find a way, just open the door!"

Easy for her to say, she had it all. She had her parents, a new baby brother… Hell, she even had Hook! Trailing after her like some lovesick puppy. She had no idea what it felt like to lose everything in mere seconds.

"Mom! Please, open the door!" she heard a voice yell urgently from outside.

"Henry?" Regina whispered brokenly, suddenly wanting nothing more than a hug from her son. She flew downstairs, opening the door. There he was, relief clear in his eyes before he frowned at her, worry marring his features as he took in her disheveled appearance.

"Mom," he finally gasped as he ran into her arms, hugging her fiercely.

"I'm so sorry," he continued, his words muffled against the fabric of her silk pajama top. She felt herself tear up and hugged Henry back, holding on to him like her life depended on it, determined not to break down while the others were watching.

"Regina, I-" came Emma's voice, making her lift her gaze and pull away from Henry. She stuck her hand out and a ball of fire instantly erupted in her palm, anger in her eyes as she aimed it at Emma. In the background, she could hear Henry begging her to stop as he pulled on her shirt, but she didn't register his pleas as Emma started walking backwards slowly, her hands in front of her as she attempted to calm Regina down. The fireball flew, and landed a couple of feet away from Emma, leaving a burnt, black spot on the floor.

Snow and David ran straight to their daughter, holding her and making sure she was alright before glaring at the queen.

"This is _not _the way to solve this, Regina!" Snow said, her voice shaking.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Emma screamed, walking back towards the house, but before Regina could reply, Henry stepped between them.

"Mom, please, just leave," he told her, one arm stretched in front of him to keep Emma from coming closer as he addressed her, his other arm outstretched toward Regina.

"Move aside, kid. This is between us," Emma told him, but Henry wouldn't budge.

"If she had wanted to kill you, she would have done it and you know it. She's not a villain anymore, mom, she's just hurt. Please go," he said, and Emma felt David's hand on her shoulder, urging her to step back and allow Henry to stay.

"Come on, Emma, he'll be alright," he told her. Emma leveled an angry look at Regina and then walked away, her parents trailing after her.

Henry held Regina's hand as they walked inside, not saying a word until they'd reached her room. She pulled up her right knee and sat half cross-legged on her bed, her hands shifting between playing with the hem of her shirt and picking at an imaginary speck of dirt in her silk pajama pants, all in an effort to ease her anxiety. Henry sat there, looking at her and wondering how he could help, he had never seen her so broken.

"Mom?" he asked softly. She lifted her head to look at him, and that's when he noticed how red her eyes were, her lip quivering slightly as she tried to school her expression.

"It's alright mom, you don't have to pretend with me, it's okay," he said and instantly, the tears began to fall down her face, and Henry scooted closer so he could put his arms around her as she cried silently into his jacket, quiet sobs ripping through her when it became too painful to keep them in.

"I'm so sorry about what happened. You saved us all, you deserve better than this," he said as he held her, and then he felt her shaking her head before she parted from him.

"I have tried so hard to be better for you, to make myself into someone you'd be proud of, and I got carried away, deluded myself into thinking I was more than what I am. I'm a villain, Henry, my past will always haunt me and ruin whatever chance I have at happiness," she said, finally acknowledging what had been eating her up inside since before any of this happened, the fear that no matter how hard she tried, it would never be enough. She knew the Charmings would tell her to have hope, she knew they'd say she would find her happy ending, and that's why she kept them away, she couldn't bear to have someone tell her she could have those things when clearly she wasn't meant to. She would always be the Evil Queen.

"No! You've put your life on the line for me more than once, and you also did it for the baby, and then for all of us when you went up against Zelena. You broke a curse, you made _light_ magic, mom, and you love me, villains don't love, villains aren't loved."

"Daniel loved me and he died for it. As for Robin, you saw what happened, he's with his wife. I'm not loved, Henry, not anymore. I can't be."

"_I _love you. You're my mom, you've cared for me my whole life, and you have never stopped loving me. Even when I was mean to you, even when you didn't have your heart or when I looked into your face and didn't know who you were, you never stopped. You're a hero, mom, _my _hero, and you _can _be happy, you _deserve_ to be happy." He finished his speech with a fierce emphasis on the last sentence, jumping into her arms again. She hugged him, because he was right, she did love him, he was her son, the one person that she had held on to all these years, the one pure thing in her life, the one undeniable proof that she wasn't _just _the Evil Queen, she was also a mother, _Henry's_ mother, and that was enough, it had to be.

But as Regina tossed around in bed later that night, she couldn't help but feel miserable again. She missed him, she missed his smile and the way he looked at her, the way he played with her hair, a tell-tale sign he was about to kiss her. She missed the way he had made her feel, and the blissful feeling of sharing herself with someone so completely and without inhibitions, like she had when they were together in that very same bed just three days prior…

_Robin pulled away from their kiss and looked into her eyes. They were facing each other as they lay on their sides under the covers, his fingers threading themselves in her hair and his thumb caressing her cheekbone before he pecked her lips again briefly and dropped his hand to hold hers._

_"__Are you alright?" he asked, placing a tiny kiss on her bare shoulder. She smiled as she moved the hand he was holding and laced her fingers through his, her eyes focused on the way they fit together. He smiled back when she finally looked at him and nodded._

_"__I hope you know this wasn't my intention… with the picnic and the wine and all… I don't regret it!" he hurried to explain when she frowned at him, "not at all, but I wasn't planning on this to happen tonight, I simply wanted… you just got your heart back and did such amazing things even without it. You saved everyone and I was so proud and you're so beautiful, I-" she cut his babbling off as she kissed him again, her hand untangling from his and running up his chest and into his neck._

_"__I wanted to," she said, grinning at him as he laced his fingers with hers again, bringing their hands to his chest, right over his heart. For long moments, they lay there, heads propped up on their pillows, facing each other and smiling like idiots. His hand then slowly ran the length of her arm and down to her waist, drawing her a little closer to him as he buried his nose in her hair, kissing her forehead and holding her to him._

_"__Everyone is at Granny's celebrating the new prince. Would you like to go? Your friend Little John and Roland are probably at the park by now, we could pick him up there and grab some ice cream on the way," she said against his skin, placing a kiss on the joint of his neck and shoulder._

_"__He'd like that," he replied with a smile before bringing his lips back to hers._

It had been such a simple moment, but it had meant everything, and it broke Regina to think that he was experiencing that with someone else, but she couldn't bring herself to hate him for it. Robin had his wife back now, and Marian deserved to enjoy life with her family again, none of this was her fault.

Henry had stayed over the next night as well, and they had watched movies and eaten tons of chocolate. The time shared with her son helped Regina feel less alone, but it didn't shake the dread or the sadness at having had everything she ever wanted, only to see it snatched away. By the time Emma called Henry to let him know she was on her way to pick him up that afternoon, Regina's anger over Emma's part in the ordeal had not improved.

"You know it wasn't her fault," Henry told her as they cooked dinner together. Regina pretended not to hear him, but she should've known he'd be resilient, he was her son after all.

"Mom, I know you're listening."

"I don't have anything to say on the subject."

"You know she didn't mean for any of this to happen," he tried again, accusingly waving the stick of celery he was holding. Regina sighed.

"Fine, you're right, and I'm sorry I threw a fireball at her," Henry saw the tiny smirk on her lips as she said this and couldn't help but grin back as he shook his head at her, "I guess it's just… easier to have someone to blame," she said just as the doorbell rang.

"Promise you won't be mean to her," Henry said, his face stern. Regina exhaled and nodded at her son.

Emma was defensive the moment the door opened, glaring at Regina as she called out Henry's name.

"In the kitchen, mom! Come in!" he called back. Emma hesitated at the doorway.

"Oh please, like I would seriously throw fire at you _inside_ my own, very expensive home," Regina said exasperatedly as she turned around and walked back inside.

Emma closed the door behind her and followed Regina into the kitchen, where Henry was adding fresh mushrooms to the salad he was preparing.

"Hi mom, wanna have dinner with us? There's plenty," he said, smiling at her.

"It's time to go, kid," she said.

"But the food's not done yet!"

"We're making dinner together, the least you can do is let him eat it," Regina interrupted, giving Emma a look, as if daring her to contradict her.

"Fine, but hurry," Emma finally gave in.

"You say the sweetest things," Regina sarcastically replied.

"You threw a fireball at me, Regina. Do you really think I'm just going to forget that?"

"I didn't throw it directly at you, stop whining."

"Whining?! You could've killed me!" Emma's voice was louder now.

"I was never going to kill you," Regina replied with a wave of her hand.

"Mom," Henry tried, but went unnoticed, as Emma continued her tirade.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to defend you when everyone kept blaming the missing year on you?! How much it took for me to stop them from going after you before we knew Zelena was around?!" Emma went on. Henry kept trying to intervene, but neither woman gave him the chance.

"I didn't ask you to do that."

"That's not the point!"

"Then what _is _the point of this tantrum, Ms. Swan?"

"I saw you change, I witnessed all the good things you did, and after all that you still go around terrorizing others when life doesn't go your way? She was an innocent woman, Regina! I couldn't just leave her to die by _your_ hand! What do you think Robin would've done if he ever found out it was you who murdered his _wife_?!" Regina flew at Emma, grabbing her shoulders and pinning her against the kitchen door as she looked straight at her, her eyes blazing.

"Do you have _any_ idea how it feels to lose _everything_?!" she hissed, "all I've known my entire life is loss after loss after loss. In the last year alone, I lost my son, my life here in Storybrooke, my castle, my memories, my _sister, _wicked as she was. Regardless of having gained some of those things back and helping everyone else do the same, I've had to live surrounded by people who don't believe in me, who still doubt my intentions, and _finally, _when someone comes along who accepts me as I am, who makes me _feel_ something other than despair and bitterness, you snatch it all away because you couldn't stay the hell away from a stupid time portal!" There were tears about to fall from her eyes again, and when she took a deep breath, Henry's pleas began to register in her mind.

"Mom! You promised!" He kept saying as he tried to pull her away from Emma. Finally, she let her go and walked away, leaving the kitchen and heading towards the stairs.

"What about dinner?" Henry called out tentatively.

"I'm not hungry," was all she said before walking upstairs and locking the door to her room again, refusing to come out.

* * *

_There, how was that for a first chapter? I know it's a bit of a non-event but I hope you're still willing to stick with me for a little while longer._

_Let me know what you think!_

_-Bea_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: characters are still ABC's. Feels and story are still mine._

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Despite Emma's protests and Regina's unwillingness to rejoin the world, Henry decided to stay at her house again that night, trying to get her to talk to him. At last, she opened her bedroom door and he was able to get her to eat some of the food they had prepared earlier, but whenever he tried to get her to talk, her only answer would be that she was tired, and she would turn around in the bed and pretend to sleep.

The next morning, Emma stopped by again to pick up Henry. She was a lot more subdued this time, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot while she waited for him at the door.

"Come in," Regina said when she opened it, not even bothering to hide the bags under her eyes or the defeated look on her face.

"Regina I just want to say—"

"We have nothing to discuss, Ms. Swan. Last night was enough."

"No, please hear me out. I'm sorry for everything, I really did not mean for you to experience that kind of pain, but I… I just couldn't let her die."

"Henry will be right down," she said and left her there, walking back up the stairs and to Henry's room.

"Are you ready? Emma's here."

"Yeah, just have to get my book," he said, grabbing the book of fairy tales from his bedside table. He then put one arm around her waist and squeezed, feeling her lips on the top of his head as she apologized for the events of the night before.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I got carried away."

"It's okay, mom, I know you're hurting. But you have to stop thinking that you have no one or that you're not worthy. I love you and I believe in you."

Regina could do nothing but smile at him through teary eyes as she heard his words. She nodded at him and watched him walk down the stairs towards Emma.

"You'll find your happy ending, mom, I know you will," he said before walking out the door.

She stood at the top of the stairs for a few minutes, thinking about what Henry had said to her, hoping that he was right. As she turned around to go back to her room, the doorbell rang again and she grinned, shaking her head as she went down to answer it.

"Let me guess, you left your Game-" her words caught in her throat as she realized it wasn't Henry who stood on the other side of the door, but Marian.

"—boy. What are you doing here?" she asked, surprise coloring her voice.

"I need to talk to you."

Regina was stunned, she hadn't expected this to happen. She absent-mindedly opened the door a little wider, gesturing for Marian to come in as she tried to reign in the eruption of emotions going on inside her.

"Kitchen?" she was proud of how calm and steady her voice sounded as she guided Marian to the kitchen table and asked her to take a seat. She knew the proper thing would've been to take her to the living room, but she did not want her memories of the moments she and Robin had enjoyed there to be tainted by what was sure to be an uncomfortable conversation.

"Some tea?" she asked her as she smoothed down the navy colored robe that covered her pajamas, but Marian shook her head, her hands trembling as they sat on her lap.

"I know you have valid reasons to be nervous, but you don't have to be afraid of me, I won't hurt you," Regina said, though there was an edge to her tone, making Marian jump a little in her seat.

"I wanted to… to talk to you… about Robin, about this place. I'm so… confused," Marian began.

"I understand. You can ask me anything, I promise you I will be as truthful as possible," Regina replied.

Marian proceeded to ask question after question about Storybrooke, about the curse, the portal that had brought her here, the technology she was dealing with for the first time, about the clothes, the weather, the way magic worked in this new world, even about the people, and Regina answered as best she could. She began to think the conversation wouldn't be so bad after all, until Marian's questions took a strange turn.

"You have a child?"

"Yes."

"But he's Leia's boy."

"Her name's Emma, and yes, she gave birth to him, but she gave him up. I adopted him and raised him. He is _my_ son," Regina replied defensively.

"Do you love him?" she asked, and was surprised to see a fond smile on Regina's face as she answered her question.

"More than anything."

"How do you know? I mean, _can _you love?"

"Of course I can!" she was offended, and Marian flinched.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to understand…"

"It's fine, you're not the first person to be baffled by my ability to feel something good," Regina replied after a deep breath, but her annoyance was still palpable in her voice.

"How did you… how did it happen? You changing, I mean."

"As much as I would like to clear your doubts, my story is my own, and I will not tell it if I do not wish to share it." Marian did not want to anger the queen, but her curiosity got the best of her.

"Was it Robin?"

"I just told you I will not share—" but Marian cut Regina off before she could finish talking.

"He is my husband." Regina looked away from her for a second when she spoke those words, trying her hardest to conceal her sadness.

"He thought you dead, he didn't do anything wrong by moving on," she replied, steeling herself for the next part of the conversation.

"But I'm back now."

"Yes, I gathered. Is there a point to all this or did you just come to state the obvious?" Regina's snappy tone both scared and angered Marian, who took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"They are _my _family and I want them back," she finally said, making Regina raise an eyebrow at her.

"Is that what this is about? You saw us walk into that diner together and now you're marking your territory? You're living with Robin, are you not? I have nothing to do with this, I haven't even seen him since that night."

"I know, and I… I appreciate that, I just wanted to… I don't know, clear things up, I suppose?"

"If you're worried about me coming after you because you were my prisoner all those years ago—"

"No, that's not it. Leia –that is, Emma- said you're not the same person anymore, and I… I think I believe her. She saved me, and she's been telling me over and over again that you're no longer the Evil Queen."

"Then what—?"

"I want my family back."

"Yes, you've established that."

"I came here because I wanted to ask you not to interfere, to please give us a chance to find our happiness again. I know there was… _something_, between you and Robin, and I just want to make sure that you know I'm here to stay, I want my husband and my boy, and this is our second chance, we deserve a second chance."

"I agree," it took every ounce of strength in Regina not to break down in tears as she said it.

"You do?"

"You mean the world to Robin, and Roland needs his mother."

"Robin told you about me?"

"Of course he did. And now that you're here, he no longer has to live with the pain of losing you. I'm not about to ruin that for him."

"So you won't interfere?"

"I was never planning to."

"Oh."

"Yes, shocking, isn't it? Now, if you'll excuse me, there are a lot of things that need my attention. I am still the mayor of this town, after all."

"Yes, of course! Thank you, your Majesty, for letting us have our chance," Regina could tell that Marian meant what she was saying, and it made her cold demeanor crack a little.

"No need for formalities, you can call me Regina," she said before watching her walk down the doorway steps and out of sight. As she closed the door, Regina finally crumbled, her back against it as she slid to the floor and tried her hardest to not let the tears fall, but it was too much. It was truly over now, Robin had a wife, a loving wife who was lost and confused but definitely wanted him. She was nothing but a woman with a broken heart, pining after someone she could never have.

"It's not worth the pain," she said out loud, and with that, she stuck her hand in her chest and pulled out her heart, the physical pain dulling the ache that her emotions had caused. In an instant, it was over, and she held her heart in her hand, pulsing and glowing dark red.

"I was a fool," she said to herself before getting to her feet and walking to her study. A small wooden box with ornamental carvings lay open on her desk, where Robin had left it the night he got her heart back. She dumped the organ into the box unceremoniously and shut it, throwing the box in her safe and walking away. She was relieved when the feeling of detachment started to settle in, and it was like she could breathe again. Not having a heart might not completely stop the pain that had taken over her entire being, but it did make it less crippling. She had missed being able to fully feel everything, but there was no point to that when feeling _happy_ was no longer a possibility.

* * *

Robin made his way around the trees, trying to catch Roland as they played together while Marian watched them from where she sat on a nearby bench.

They'd had a horrible start to their day, with Roland crying when he had woken up to find his father had left him alone with Marian. She tried to comfort him, and he knew he had to behave because she was his mama, but he was too scared to keep his composure when he didn't see his father around.

Marian had cried and given up trying to make breakfast, and by the time Robin got home, it was to find them both weeping. That's why they were now at the park, as Robin had suggested a change of scenery and time as a family would help ease Roland's fears. He still had not forgotten Roland's cryptic question from two nights before, however.

"Roland, why did you ask me if you had been bad the other night?" He asked him a few minutes later as he picked him up and placed him on a swing. His son shrugged, much like he had done the first time Robin had asked that question.

"Remember what we talked about, son? You must always be honest with papa. Now tell me, please," he pressed. Roland took a deep breath, as if steeling himself to answer, and it amused Robin to see his little boy so solemn.

"You said you would take me to Regina's house. To make cookies, remember? But we didn't go, so that means I was bad, doesn't it?"

Robin mentally kicked himself. He couldn't believe he had forgotten. It all came rushing back as soon as his son had mentioned it.

"_I love chocolate!" Roland had squealed as he ran out of the ice cream shop and towards Robin and Regina, who were standing on the sidewalk hand in hand, smiling at him._

"_What do you say, Roland?" he had asked as he let go of Regina and crouched down in front of the boy, and Roland had instantly frozen, handing his ice cream cone to Robin before taking Regina's hand and kissing it, bowing as he spoke._

"_Thank you for my chocolate ice cream, milady," he said to her, smiling as he grabbed his cone again from Robin and continued eating it. Regina had beamed at the boy, and Robin was sure he could see a tiny tear in the corner of her eye, but she blinked it away and bent down to talk to Roland._

"_Tomorrow, I can teach you how to make cookies, would you like that?" she asked conspiratorially, and Roland had smiled and nodded enthusiastically, holding on to her hand as they resumed their walk to Granny's._

"_Is that alright with you? We don't have to, I just thought…" she said to him as they walked, but Robin came to a halt and kissed her quickly to stop her rambling._

"_It's fine, he'll love that. Won't you, Roland?" he directed his attention to his son, who happily agreed as he looked up at them. Robin smiled down at him and then looked at Regina._

"_Besides, I happen to love cookies," he said and winked at her. She bit her lip as she grinned back at him, the action making desire flare in him as they rounded the corner, the decorative lights outside the diner casting a warm glow on her stunning features._

Robin smiled at the memory, remembering how hard it had been to not kiss her when she bit her lip like that. He also remembered stopping at the entrance to Granny's to taste her lips again simply because he could. It had been a good day, a wonderful day. He had no idea that going into that diner would jumble his entire world, and now here he was, with the wife he thought lost for years, trying to reconcile her with a son who was too young to recognize her or even understand what was happening. It was strange to Robin though, how Roland had called her "mama" and allowed her to hug him when they first saw her, and now he had pulled away from her as if he had never laid eyes on the woman before.

"Roland, why did you cry when you woke up today?" he asked the boy as he pushed him on the swing.

"You weren't there."

"Mama was."

"But she's not you."

"She's your mother, Roland, she loves you. You have to know how much it hurts her that you don't let her take care of you."

"I didn't want to hurt her, papa, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, son, but just try to be a good boy for her, alright? She has missed you so much."

"Okay," Roland replied, and he stayed quiet as Robin continued to lightly push him on the swing, returning Marian's sad smile when he caught her watching them.

"Papa?" Roland's voice was quiet, as if he was afraid to speak. Robin stopped the swing again.

"What is it, Roland?"

"Is that why you didn't take me to make cookies with Regina? Because I made mama sad?"

"Oh! No, son, I forgot about your date with Regina, it wasn't anything you did. It was my fault, I'm sorry."

"'S okay, but you will take me to her house, won't you?" he was so hopeful, Robin couldn't say no.

"I will, I promise." Roland squealed.

"Thank you, papa!" He said as he turned awkwardly in the swing to hug his father. It was like a switch had flipped in him and he had instantly turned back into the little ball of laughs and energy Robin knew his son to be. The only issue was that now he _had _to take him to Regina's, and Robin had no idea how he was going to approach her, or if she even _wanted _to see him after what he had done to her, but he had made a promise to his son, and that came before anything else, it always had.

So after a quick lunch that very same day, Robin sent Roland into his room to change and gather his things. He really didn't need to change his clothes, but Robin needed a little time alone with Marian to explain the situation, as he wasn't sure his intention to visit Regina would sit well with his wife.

Apparently, he was right in thinking she would hate the idea, because the instant he communicated his plans to her, Marian was livid.

"You're what?!" she whisper-shouted so that Roland wouldn't hear.

"She had plans with Roland, plans that I forgot about, and he's been sad about it for days," he replied in the same hushed voice.

"That doesn't mean you can just take my son to see that woman!"

"He is _our _son, and that woman, as you call her, cares for him. She's just going to make him cookies, for crying out loud!" he whispered back urgently.

"She's the Evil Queen!"

"Being bold and audacious does not make her evil, and you said yourself that she's very different from the queen you knew in the Enchanted Forest," Robin was starting to get irritated, and the fact that they had to keep whispering wasn't helping.

"She has a son, what does she want with mine?!"

"Marian, please," Robin said, his voice back to its normal volume. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he took deep breaths.

"No, I don't want him to go," she said.

"You don't want him to go or you don't want _me _to go?"

Her silence gave her away.

"Do you think that little of me? That I would betray you like that?"

"No! I know you would never do something like that, I just… I don't trust her."

"Marian, this is the first time in days he's been excited about something. The poor boy has been mopey all week thinking the reason I didn't take him was because he had made you cry!"

"He doesn't want to be near me, but he wants to go visit the Evil Queen. Do you know how much that hurts, Robin?"

"I know it does, and I'm sorry, my dear, I really am," he said, putting his arms around her, "but what if this helps? Don't you think he'd be more receptive towards you if he stopped thinking you're the reason he can't see Regina?" she shook her head and stepped away from him.

"This is all her doing, isn't it? She's manipulating Roland so that he chooses her over me. I can't believe I let her trick me like that!" The last part caught Robin's interest.

"Trick you?" he asked her.

"Don't you see?! She's using Roland to get to you!"

"She's not using anyone, Marian. She saved Roland from a horrible fate, he trusts her and she loves being with him. I've seen the way she treats him, she won't do anything to harm him," but Marian wasn't listening, she kept babbling to herself.

"She said she wouldn't interfere, she said we deserved our second chance, and I believed her! And now she's using my own son against me!" she was having a hard time keeping her voice down now.

"She said what? What are you talking about?"

"I went to see her the other day. I asked her to leave us be, to give us a chance to be a family again." Now it was Robin's turn to get angry.

"You did _what_?!" he shouted.

"Shh!" she said, glancing towards the door of her son's room before continuing, "I had no choice," she replied, her voice quiet but determined as she turned away from him, "I had to let her know that you and Roland are _my_ family, and that I would not stand idly by while she took you away from me."

"Are you insane? Do you have any idea how much she must be hurting?! Do you even know what she's been through? She _saved our son _and brought him back to me, she saved everyone in this town from the Wicked Witch, she broke a curse because of the love she bears her son. That woman is a hero to us all and you had the nerve to show up at her house and humiliate her like that?! What is wrong with you, Marian?!"

"I'm sorry," Marian was crying now, defeated, "I just didn't know what else to do, I…" she sank into the armchair that rested behind her, burying her face in her hands. Roland chose that instant to come out of his room, his jacket looking haphazard because he had skipped a button or two when he fastened it. His appearance made Robin chuckle despite the heaviness in the air, and he took his son's hand, not bothering to fix the mismatched buttons.

"We're going to Regina's, we'll talk more later," he said and closed the door behind him. It killed him to be so cold towards her, but Marian had done something horrible and he could not bear to look at her right now. Vowing to apologize to Regina for his wife's actions as well as his own, he and Roland made their way outside.

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_**A/N:** I don't know if I should even be writing these (does anyone even read author notes anymore?), but then how else am I going to thank you all for being so amazing? I mean WOW! I wasn't expecting to get such a positive reaction, but I'm so happy that I did! Thank you, guys!_

_Also, I find it hilarious that there's this common theme of hostility towards Emma in the reviews lol, but I totally understand, I wanted to rip her head out myself after she did what she did._

_I don't really think we have anything to worry about with OQ, though. We know they're destined (even Lana and Sean ship it, I mean come on! Pixie dust never lies), and while Regina's suffering is painful to all of us, I think she'll get her happiness in the end and what I love about it is that it won't be because she was Robin's second chance after he lost the love of his life, but because he CHOOSES HER above all others. Plus, Regina's character development is the best thing about the show to me and I refuse to believe that Emma's stupid little screw-up would have enough power to thwart all of my queen's progress._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I will update again on Friday. In the meantime, I might upload a couple of one-shots that I have. Some of you may have already seen them on Tumblr, but I'll still put them up here sometime around Wednesday so that whoever hasn't read them has something to tide them over til Friday's update. Who knows? I might even include an all new one-shot, depending on how much writing time I have tomorrow.  
_

_Again, thank you so much for your awesome comments!_

_-B_

_PS: Reviews make me happy =)_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Characters still not mine_**

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Chapter 3

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Someone was at the door. Again.

Regina cursed under her breath as she made her way to the foyer from her study, already planning out a spell to keep the Charmings away from her home. But as she opened the door, she couldn't help but be cautiously excited to see a little figure waiting on the other side of it.

"Roland?" she asked.

"Regina!" he screamed and jumped into her arms as she crouched down in front of him. Feeling his little arms around her gave her a relief she hadn't realized she needed, and she hugged him back fiercely, laughing as he began prattling on about cookies. It wasn't until she rose that she noticed who else was at the door.

The second he looked at her, he knew. The sparkle in her eyes that had mesmerized him the last time he'd seen her wasn't there anymore. It was a minor detail, but she'd had that sparkle the moment she had put her heart back in her chest, and he was so proud that he'd been the one to recover it -just as he had promised her he would- that the image had been burned into his mind. But that spark was gone now, and this could only mean one thing.

"I'm so sorry," were the first words that came out of his mouth as he took the three steps necessary to reach her, but pulled back when she flinched at his sudden movement.

"I was an idiot, I shouldn't have just let you leave, I should have talked to you way before this. I was so confused, I still am," he said as he trailed after her, both of them walking into the kitchen.

"Yes, there seems to be a lot of confusion amongst you Locksleys these days," she said, her bitter sarcasm masking the way she was breaking inside.

"Marian shouldn't have come here, least of all to rub salt in your wounds. I didn't know she'd done it until just now, I… I'm so sorry. For everything." He was scrambling for words, unable to voice his feelings on the matter. He knew he was hurting her by showing up here like this, but he was also hurting her by staying away from her. He had no idea what to do anymore. She had opened up to him, told him her story, confessed her feelings and her struggles, and he had dismissed her when Marian showed up.

"Don't," came her voice, tearing him away from his frantic thoughts.

"I know what you're doing," she said in reply to his confused expression, "I can see the wheels turning in your head from here. It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault. You have a chance to get your life back together, I understand that," she said, looking straight at him.

"But I hurt you, I was too distracted by my own feelings that I didn't realize how much of a toll this was taking on you. I'm so sorry, Regina, I should've come sooner."

"Robin, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. She's your wife, you told me yourself you would've walked through hell to be with her again. Now you _can_ be, and you can rid yourself of the pain that followed you for so long. You have a second chance with _her_ now, you should take it." He was amazed by how strong she was, how firm her voice sounded as she spoke to him, even though he _knew_ this had to be killing her. He knew, because it was killing him too.

"I just wish I could fix this," he finally said.

"As you can see, there's no need to fix anything, you didn't have to come here to check on me, I'm fine," he resisted the urge to tell her he knew she had removed her heart, not wanting to take away the one thing she had control over in all this.

"I didn't come here to check on you… well, maybe I did, but also because Roland missed you. He's been a bit… difficult these last few days and his cookie date with you was the only thing that got him to smile, so I figured…" he trailed off, gesturing to Roland, who was sitting in front of the kitchen counter, his little legs dangling from the stool as he curiously looked around. Regina gave the boy a tender smile and turned back to Robin.

"It's not a problem, I enjoy spending time with him. We'll get started on the cookies and you can sit by the counter while we work, if that's alright?"

Robin wasn't expecting her to let him in the house, let alone ask him to stay, but he was very glad she had. He made his way to the counter and sat on a high stool next to Roland.

All the while, Regina felt torn. On the one hand, she was excited to see Roland, he was a sweetheart and she really did love having him around. But on the other hand, Robin was here, and his presence so close to her had her mind racing. Her entire body was shaking, though she did her best to hide it. She missed him, she missed their time together, missed the way his thumb would absent-mindedly caress her cheek when he held her face and the way he would surprise her with a sweet kiss and make her blush, but that was all over now. He was married, and he deserved to enjoy his life with the person he thought had been taken from him all those years ago. Marian was right, this was _their_ second chance.

Steeling herself, Regina set about pulling out ingredients for the cookies, asking Roland to wash his hands before they got started. While he did, she dragged a nearby chair for him stand on so he could see over the counter and help her set utensils in place. The boy was meticulous about every step he took, making sure he did everything as well as possible, as if he wanted nothing to spoil his chances of learning how to make the sweet treats, and Regina had to chuckle at his diligence. He was so determined, just like his father.

"Now this is what we're going to do first, you see the butter over here?" Roland nodded at her, "we're going to cut that up into little cubes and put them in this bowl, alright?" he nodded again, giggling as he took the plastic knife she offered him and carefully began cutting the stick of butter into tiny pieces while Regina grabbed her apron and slid it over her head, covering up her dark gray dress. Robin didn't know what possessed him to do it, but in an instant, he was behind her, taking the strings of the apron from her hands as she reached for them and tying them at her back. That brief touching of their fingers was the first physical contact they've had in almost a week, and for a split second, everything felt _right _again for Robin, but the moment was over when she flinched away, as if catching herself before she did something regrettable. All he could do was mumble another apology.

The afternoon was awkward at best, with Robin and Regina stealing sad glances at each other and exchanging forced pleasantries, but Roland seemed oblivious to the tension between the two as he happily munched on the freshly baked cookies and prattled on to Robin about how you had to add just the right amount of chocolate chips to the dough. Regina couldn't help but listen to them, transfixed by their interactions and smiling to herself as she watched them from the other end of the kitchen.

When the time came for them to leave, she began to feel hollow once more, knowing it could be a while before she got to enjoy Roland's company again. He seemed to know this too, because he hugged her tightly, holding on to her neck with a strong grip as she put her arms around his back and lifted him in the air. She planted a kiss on his cheek before she put him back down, while Robin headed to the foyer to gather their coats.

"Regina?" Roland asked once they were alone.

"Yes?" she acknowledged him as she packed cookies in a brown bag for him to take home.

"Why are you and papa fighting?" she dropped the cookie that was in her hand, his question catching her off guard. It seemed Roland wasn't as oblivious as she thought. Regina took a deep breath before she turned to look at him.

"Roland, sweetie, your father and I are not fighting, we just have a lot on our minds right now." That was the best answer she could come up with on the spot.

"Like what?" he asked, looking up at her with his big brown eyes and long lashes.

"Oh, just grown-up things. Grown-ups are very complicated," she told him as she took his hand to walk to the foyer.

"Regina?" he asked as they left the kitchen.

"Yes, Roland?"

"Will you and papa take me out for ice cream again?"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?"

"Grown-up things," she said again.

"I hate grown-up things" he said, suddenly angry, and Regina stopped to kneel down in front of him, her hand cupping his little cheek as she smiled sadly at him.

"I don't like them much either," she grimaced, "but you know what? Henry and I are going out for milkshakes tomorrow, maybe you can come with us."

"Really?!" his smile was bright.

"As long as your parents say it's okay, sure," she replied.

"Oh, can I go for milkshakes with Regina, papa?! Can I?!" he immediately asked Robin as he reached him. It didn't escape Regina's notice that it was likely neither of them even knew what a milkshake was, but Roland still wanted to go have one with her, and that made her smile.

"We'll have to talk to your mother about it, son, but I don't see why not," Roland squealed with joy as he grabbed his bag of cookies and obediently stayed in the foyer, where Robin told him to wait for him as he led Regina to the living room.

"I'm sorry, I know I should have asked you first, but he had the saddest look on his face and I just couldn't resist it."

"Not to worry, I raised the boy, I know what those puppy eyes can do," he said with a small chuckle, "and thank you for this, I know it's only been a few days but it feels like I haven't seen him this happy in forever."

"I'm glad I could help," was all Regina replied, her eyes focusing everywhere but Robin's own. He grabbed her hand in both of his, forcing her to look at him. She snatched her hand back almost instantly, but her eyes didn't waver from his.

"I'm…"

"Sorry. Yes I know, and I've told you to stop apologizing. I will _not_ be pitied, least of all by you," she finished. Her demeanor was regal, her voice firm, and it reminded Robin of her feistiness and her determination, which only served to make his feelings for her burn stronger. Suddenly, he was pulling her against him, holding her in his arms and apologizing again, this time in whispers against her hair as he breathed her in. Regina let herself enjoy the contact briefly before she pulled away. Robin hated watching her do that, he hated that they couldn't just be _them_, and it struck him again how much he missed her, which was odd considering they'd only just started seeing each other when this all happened.

"Your wife will be waiting for you," Regina said, breaking the silence.

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry for that, I just…"

"I think it'll be easier for us both if we just don't see each other anymore," she went on.

"But Roland—"

"I'll be more than happy to take Roland for a milkshake and to see him whenever else he wants, but that doesn't mean you and I have to spend any time together other than when one of us picks him up or drops him off."

"I suppose," Robin said, unable to argue with her logic.

"I think it's for the best. You have a family to put back together and I have my son and a town to run."

"As you wish," he said, his shoulders slumped as he looked at the floor, defeated by his own confusion.

They headed back to Roland, who was playing around with the pieces of a chess set that sat near the living room.

"I thought I told you to wait by the door," Robin said, though there was no accusation or anger in his voice.

"You took too long, I thought you were kissing again," came Roland's absent-minded reply, making Regina blush and look away. Robin was taken aback not by his son's answer, but by how much he wished it had been true.

As they headed out the door, Regina went with them, making sure Roland was covered up properly in his jacket. When they stepped outside, she shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Does it seem a bit… chilly to you?" she asked them.

"It's always chilly here nowadays."

"No, no. This is different," there was worry on her face, and Robin knew she was sensing something.

"Regina? What is it?" he asked her, stepping closer to her. His proximity brought her out of her thoughts and she put on her best poker face, waving them off.

"Nothing, I'm being silly," she said as she shook her head, gesturing towards the steps as she followed them out. Robin looked skeptical, but didn't push.

"Roland, what do you say?" he asked his son, who stopped skipping his way down the steps and ran back to Regina, barreling himself against her legs as he hugged her.

"Thank you, Regina," his voice was muffled against the fabric of her dress.

"Any time, Roland," she replied, patting the top of his head as she gave him a watery smile and then watched them walk away. Before she closed the door, Robin turned back to look at her.

"M'lady," he said as he tipped his head in her direction.

"Goodbye, Robin" she replied, and it took everything in him not to run back to her and kiss her, hug her, do _anything _that would convince her to take back the finality of that statement.

The lack of a heart stopped Regina from crying, but the pain –however dull- was still there as she sank to the floor once she'd closed the door, her back resting against it while she took deep breaths, attempting to stop the painful, dry sobs from escaping.

She was realizing now that she had held on to the hope that he might want her still, that she had half-expected him to tell her he didn't care about Marian, that he only had eyes for _her_. Watching him walk away just cemented the fact that he would never love her like he loved his wife, he would never choose her. Just like that, it was over.

* * *

_I know I'm the world's most horrible person for ending this chapter like that, but please don't hate me! I promise I'll make this up to you down the road._

_Thanks again to everyone who's read and reviewed, you've no idea how happy it makes me to see your comments and know that you're all loving this story so much._

_Also, I know I promised one-shots for you guys this week and I'm so sorry I didn't deliver, but the one-shot I was going to publish has the potential to become a chapter in this story so I thought I'd save it for when I develop this further. I promise to publish it as a one-shot if it doesn't make it as part of the story though, so either way, you'll read it. To make up for not being good on my promise, though, I've published another OQ one-shot just now (just look through my stories and you'll find it). It's a tiny thing I wrote for the Domesticity prompt on Tumblr's Outlaw Queen week, nothing too important but it is pretty adorable if I do say so myself… Oh! And if any of you would like to send me prompts, you can do so at my Tumblr (username is repellomuggletum15) and I'll write you a one-shot with your prompt when I get a chance._

_Anyway, enough rambling for today. Leave a review, pretty please?_

_I'll see you all next Friday for another update. Have a great weekend!_

_-B_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Ah! Don't you just loooooooooove surprise updates?!**_

_**In all honesty, I wasn't going to do this, but hey, Germany won the World Cup! I've been a fan of the German team for 20 freaking years now and I FINALLY got to see them win and it felt amazing and I partied the night away and then (after nursing a very nasty hangover) I decided to celebrate with you as well. Also, it's almost the 15th, which means it's Lana's birthday, so one way or another, the surprise update had to happen ^^**_

_**Anyway yeah, enjoy! And no worries, I'm still updating this Friday.**_

_**x-x-x**_

_**PS: All characters are still property of ABC.**_

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Chapter 4

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"Roland? As in, Robin Hood's kid?" Henry asked.

"Yes, Henry, as in Robin's son."

"But why?"

"He um, he likes spending time with me. And I sort of promised he could come with us today."

"Is Robin coming?"

"No, I made it clear to him that it's just us and Roland."

"I still don't understand why he has to come."

"Henry, he's just a child, he doesn't understand what's going on, I'm only trying to make the situation easier for him."

"He has a mother, why doesn't he go have milkshakes with her?" Henry was pulling out the petulant kid card and Regina was starting to worry.

"He hasn't… warmed up to her yet, from what Robin told me. Please, Henry, it's one afternoon, and he's a nice boy, you'll love him, I promise."

"He's a baby," Henry spat as he crossed his arms and turned around, his back to her.

"The way you're acting right now, I'm beginning to think he's not the only one. What's wrong?" she asked knowingly, raising an eyebrow at him. Henry sighed, turning back to her.

"I just don't want him to hurt you again. Robin, I mean," his voice was quiet, and he looked down when her sad eyes found his. Regina could do nothing but hug her son, wrapping her arms around him and kissing the top of his head when she felt him put his arms around her middle and hug her back.

"Thank you, but you don't have to worry. I'll be fine, and Roland isn't at fault for any of this," she said as she held his head to her chest.

"Don't lie to me, mom," Henry said as he squeezed her a bit tighter, "you're not fine, I saw how much this broke you," he argued, and Regina sighed deeply, thankful that he couldn't see her face from the position they were in.

"I won't deny that it's been difficult, but you have to understand that Robin is not to blame for this."

"He left you."

"After Emma brought his dead wife back," she said, her voice angry before it softened again, "you told me not to blame her, so why is Robin any different?"

Henry pulled away from her and took a deep breath before finally relenting, "I guess you're right," he said, looking at her with a small smile.

"I'm always right," she smirked at him, "now go grab your coat, we'll stop to pick up Roland on the way to Granny's."

* * *

"Papa! Papa! They're here!" Roland squealed half an hour later, as he looked out the window.

"Now, now, Roland, get your coat on, I'll open the door," said Marian from the kitchen.

She hated this, she didn't want her son spending time with the queen, no matter how changed she might be, but Roland had come bouncing in the day before and for the first time since she had found him again, he let her hold him. He had told her all about what he'd done at Regina's, explaining to her how she had taught him to make cookies and even offering one to her from the bag he carried. He was so happy, she supposed it didn't register with him that the woman he had repelled for days was the one he was now telling his story to, but she didn't care. He had accepted her touch and her love for once, and so she had smiled and asked him question after question, pouring some milk for them to enjoy with the cookies. Before bed, he had called her "mama" and given her a brief hug when she wished him a good night.

It felt so wonderful to have him in her arms again that it didn't matter to her what the reason behind it was at the time. Now, while Marian appreciated that Regina cared for Roland, she didn't want him to continue bonding with her. She might be a hero to them now, but on some level, there had to be some of the Evil Queen left in her, especially now that she was a woman scorned by Marian's sudden presence.

So when Robin had informed her that Regina would be picking up Roland and taking him out for milkshakes, Marian had gotten defensive again. She didn't want her in their home, she didn't want her spending time with her son, and most of all, she didn't want her anywhere near her husband. Robin wasn't one to cheat, he would never betray her, but the same couldn't be said for the Queen. Marian had seen what she was capable of, had experienced first-hand what it felt like to be the target of her malice. No matter how much everyone claimed she had changed, Regina could still lash out at any moment and do something horrible to the lot of them, and Marian did not want to live with that fear.

However, when she told Roland that she would rather he stayed at home with her, the boy had gone back to being distant and aversive towards her, and that hurt more than any possibility of retaliation from the Evil Queen, so by lunch time she had agreed that he could go, on the condition that he was returned home in time for dinner.

Shivering against the unusual cold, Regina waited out by the door for Roland. It was suspicious, the weather. Storybrooke was a wet, cold town in itself, but the temperature had dropped a lot in the past few days, which set her on edge. She told herself at first that it was probably just her own paranoia getting the best of her, but early this morning, before Henry woke up, she was sure she had seen a few flurries of snow falling outside her window, and while it wasn't necessarily strange for snow to fall in Storybrooke, there was something about it that just didn't sit right with her.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Henry, who tugged on her coat at the sound of Roland skipping down the steps. Regina smiled at the boy, squatting down to hug him as he reached her.

"Look at you all bundled up, I can barely see your face!" she said as she rubbed her nose against his in an Eskimo kiss while holding on to the lapels of his tan colored jacket. He laughed at the gesture and shook his head from side to side, rubbing Regina's nose with his in response before she got back up and put her right arm around Henry's shoulders.

"You remember my son, Henry?" she asked Roland, and the boy nodded as Henry bent down to shake his hand.

"Hi, there! Ready for milkshakes?" he asked him, and Roland's loud and overexcited shouts of "Yes, milkshakes!" had Regina laughing as she pulled Henry closer to her right side, offering Roland her left hand. Marian waved from the door at her son, not speaking a word as she watched them, and Regina nodded her thanks before turning around and continuing her walk to Granny's with the two boys.

From the windowsill in Roland's room, Robin watched them go with a fond smile on his face, his mind going back to when things weren't so difficult, when he had introduced himself to Henry after Regina had broken the curse. He had been so proud of her that day. Her son had gotten his memories back, had finally recognized her, and she had never looked more stunning than she did with the blinding smile that those events brought her.

He was shaken from his thoughts by Marian, who stood by the door and asked him what was so amusing.

"I just like seeing Roland happy," he answered. It wasn't a lie, but telling her what he was really thinking was just asking for trouble, and the situation was complicated enough as it was.

Marian nodded in response and moved closer, wrapping her arms around him from behind and planting a kiss on his neck.

"We have the house to ourselves, what would you like to do?" she asked, hugging him tighter.

Robin's hand went up to hold both of hers where they met at the center of his chest, his eyes never leaving the window, though there was nothing to look at anymore.

"Are you hungry? We could have a late lunch and take a nap?" he ventured. After feeding Roland lunch that day, Robin had let him make food for his parents, and the result had not been at all appetizing.

"A nap? Robin, it's barely three in the afternoon, we should do something together," she said, her tone now sounding a bit exasperated, but her hands started roaming his chest, her lips leaving a trail of kisses on his neck. Before things got too far, Robin stopped her by getting up from the window seat and heading for the door.

"You should try pizza, it's really good, I can order us one and then we can watch television."

"Oh! I suppose that would be nice," she said. This was not at all what she was planning, but she would take it. She had wanted to spend time alone with her husband for so long now, she really didn't care what they did, as long as they were together.

When the food had arrived, Robin picked up the remote and settled on some mindless romantic comedy he found in one of the channels. He was bored in seconds, but Marian seemed amused, so he left it there while he absentmindedly ate his pizza, not really paying attention to anything but the doubts and confusion in his head.

Marian's hand settled on his thigh as she laughed during a particularly fun scene in the movie, and Robin was once again struck by his own indifference. Years ago, when they had first fallen in love, he couldn't wait to feel her hands on him and the giddiness it brought him. He lived for her touch, her kisses, but now there were no goose bumps, no tingling in his skin when she was near, and it frustrated him. He kept telling himself it probably had to do with the fact that he'd gotten used to living without her, and so his body was slow to respond to her now, but he knew that was a lie. Sometimes, he thought he could feel something, like the ghost of the flame he once held for her, but it disappeared faster than he could blink, and that made him feel so guilty that he vowed to try harder to embrace his wife's presence.

After he had placed their empty plates on the coffee table, he turned towards her and kissed her hard. The movement startled Marian, but she caught on quickly and kissed him back with equal fervor. The moment was over too soon though, as Robin pulled back and stared at her in disbelief. Nothing.

"What is it?" she asked him with a husky voice, her lips searching for his.

"Nothing, I…" he trailed off, shaking his head as if to clear it before kissing her again, tenderly this time. They moved so that she was on top of him on the couch, the movie forgotten. He reveled in the familiarity of her and slowly, memories of their life in the Enchanted Forest flooded his mind as his hands roamed her back. In a way, it was almost like coming home. He had missed her so much, had mourned her for so long, that it was surreal to have her there in his arms again. He gave himself over to that feeling, to the indescribable relief that he felt when he first saw her at Granny's, but when his hands threaded themselves in her hair, he couldn't help but frown as he kissed her. It felt wrong. _Too long, too many curls,_ his mind kept telling him, making him drop his hands back to Marian's waist and stop kissing her even as she dipped her head down to his neck to continue. Gently, he guided her so that she was lying half on top of him and half on the couch, getting back to watching the movie as he held her. He couldn't figure out what was happening to him, couldn't understand why he'd have such a reaction to something as simple as his wife's hair. He loved Marian's hair, he loved _her_, didn't he? She was the mother of his child, the life companion he thought lost. He had no idea why he wasn't able to reciprocate her passion, but whatever it was, it had to stop. Maybe Regina was right, maybe _this _was his second chance, and he had to take it.

But then, why did it feel like a chore rather than the fulfillment of his biggest wish?

* * *

Regina watched Henry as he taught Roland all about milkshakes. They had arrived at Granny's and were sitting at the bar, the boys huddled over the menu, looking at all their options while Ruby leaned towards them from the other side of the counter and pointed out a few of her favorites. Roland was enraptured, his eyes going wide as Henry started listing all the flavors he could get. It didn't matter that there were at least a dozen different combinations though, because as soon as Henry mentioned chocolate, a giddy little yelp escaped Roland, and he clapped as he announced he'd made his choice.

"Two chocolate milkshakes coming right up!" Ruby said to them when Henry decided on the same flavor.

"And one mint chocolate chip, please!" Henry called after her. She nodded and went off to get their order ready. Regina looked at her son.

"You remembered," she said with a fond smile on her face.

"That mint chocolate chip is your favorite? Of course I did, mom."

"I guess I'm still a little stunned that you're here and that you remember everything. It's silly, I know," she said, shaking her head at herself, but Henry grabbed her hand and made her look at him.

"It's not silly, but you don't have to worry, I'm not going to forget, and I am never leaving you again," he spoke fervently, looking into her eyes and not shying away from the moisture he saw pooled there. Regina let one single tear fall as she smiled at her son, squeezing his hand with both of hers before wiping the corner of her eye with the napkin he offered her.

"Did you go away, Henry?" came Roland's voice as he watched their exchange. Henry turned to him.

"I had to, buddy. Something dangerous was coming, so mom saved me and sent me to live with my other mom, Emma, far away from here so that I wouldn't get hurt."

"Regina saved you?" he asked in awe. Henry nodded, taking a second to look at his mother. Regina blushed a little but remained quiet, as Roland was still talking.

"She saved me too! There was a huge monkey, and it was flying! It tried to take me away, but Regina saved me and turned him into a squishy toy!" he explained excitedly.

"Yeah, she's really cool, isn't she?" Henry asked him, chuckling at Roland's enthusiastic nod and the adoring look he was giving Regina.

"She's a hero," he said, and Henry gave Regina a pointed look, raising an eyebrow at her.

"See, mom? I'm not the only one who thinks you're awesome," he said with a smirk.

"Yes, well, he's five," she said, but she was grinning.

"And he's right," Henry replied, giving Roland a high-five as Ruby came back with their order.

The look on Roland's face when he first tried his milkshake was comical, and suddenly he was bouncing in his seat.

"I love milkshakes!" he said.

"I can see that!" Regina replied, laughing as she watched him put the straw back in his mouth and hollow out his cheeks in order to take another big sip. It felt good to laugh again, and though it wasn't a completely blissful moment, Regina was glad she'd gotten to experience it with Roland and Henry. They made her world a lot less grim and she was thankful for that.

They were so caught up in their little bubble of giggles that they didn't notice Snow and David come into the diner, Snow holding baby Neal close to her and cooing at him. David stopped and got his wife's attention before nodding his head toward the three people at the bar. Snow smiled tenderly, glad to see that Regina was finally out and about and seemed to be doing a lot better. Maybe things weren't completely ruined.

As she thought this, however, Regina turned around and caught her looking at them, which made her get up briskly and start helping the boys into their coats.

"Let's go enjoy the rest of our milkshakes outside, shall we?" she said as she fastened the buttons on Roland's jacket.

"But it's cold!" Henry said.

"We've got our coats. Want to brave the cold for a little while and take a walk around the park?" She offered, knowing she'd won when Henry's eyes widened.

"The park sounds good!"

"Can you push me on the swings, Regina?!" Roland piped up from his seat, and Regina beamed at him and nodded as she fixed his hair and then unnecessarily straightened the lapels on Henry's coat, making him snort at her.

"What?" she asked, and he shook his head at her, grinning.

"You're such a mom," he said, by way of explanation. Regina put her hand on his cheek and smirked back at him.

"I'm _your _mom," she said before they finally grabbed their milkshakes and made their way to the door.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" Henry exclaimed as he spotted the Charmings, and Regina cursed under her breath at having to turn back to address them.

"Hi, Henry! What are you guys up to?" Snow asked, letting baby Neal grab her finger as she rocked him a little and looked up at them from her seat.

"We're just going to the park, do you guys want to join us?!" Henry asked, and Regina whipped her head in his direction, her eyes wide.

"Um, we… just came from there, actually," she excused herself, knowing by Regina's reaction that she did not want their company, "I want to grab something warm to drink before we head home, it's getting cold out there."

"Oh, okay, well we're all bundled up so we should be alright," Henry replied without missing a beat, Regina took Roland's hand and headed to the door without a word, her son hanging back to say his goodbyes.

* * *

"Why didn't you say hi to them?" Henry asked her as they sat on a bench at the park a few minutes later. Roland was a little ways away, milkshake in hand as he worked on finding a couple of tree branches big enough for him and Henry to sword fight with.

"Henry, please don't force me to be nice to them, I can't do that right now, especially not with her."

"Snow's only ever wanted you to be happy, mom, and you have a relationship with her now, don't throw that away over one tiny mistake."

"It wasn't tiny."

"She cares about you, we all do. Stop pushing us away."

"I don't push _you _away," she said, a little startled that he'd even suggest that.

"Mom," Henry raised an eyebrow at her, "you pretended to be asleep just so you didn't have to talk to me about how you feel."

"That was different, I just didn't want to talk about it."

"You never do, that's the problem."

"I don't see the point in discussing it. It's done, it's over, I just need time to get used to it, and no offense, but having the disgustingly sweet Charming family rambling about how there's always a way and telling me I can be happy is _not _what I need right now."

"They're only trying to help, mom."

"I know, and that's the only reason why I haven't thrown a fireball at them," she winked at him to let him know she was joking, but he seemed to understand.

"I know it's hard… to believe that you can be happy, I mean… but you _can _be, mom, I know you can, you deserve happiness."

"I don't deserve anything, Henry, I've done too many awful things. I'm actually surprised you're still here!" she laughed humorlessly, "I keep waiting for someone or something to take you away from me because I can't possibly be worthy of you."

"Nothing is going to take me away from you," he said as he squeezed her hand with both of his own, their moment interrupted by Roland, who had finally found two branches he deemed appropriate and ran towards them to give one to Henry.

"Can we do sword fight now?!" he asked, and Regina smiled at the boys as they began to play, loving that Henry made his movements significantly slower and softer than usual to avoid hurting the smaller boy. It was a beautiful sight, both of them playing like brothers, and it pained Regina to think that this is what would've happened in the long run, had Emma not screwed up her life just like Snow had done all those years ago.

She spent about a half hour watching the boys and pondering about the joke her life had once again turned into. She wanted to focus on her anger, to continue fueling her hatred for Emma in an effort to stop the sadness from taking over, but something interrupted her musings. Flurries of snow were falling. They were few and far between, but very real, she was sure of it this time.

"Boys, I think it's time to go," she called out to them, wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck as she took the empty milkshake cups and tossed them in a nearby trash can.

"But we just got here!" Henry complained.

"And you haven't pushed me on the swings, Regina!" Roland joined in.

"We can come back another time, right now we have to leave," she said, sending a worried glance toward Henry, who understood and nodded at her. The boys dropped their makeshift swords and walked over to her, each holding on to one of her hands as they walked in the direction of Roland's home.

* * *

**_There, longer chapter this time around and a bit of cuteness amidst the heartache. I know we haven't seen Roland interact that much with Regina yet on the show and Henry's relationship with his mother has only now just started to be a good one again so bits of this chapter may come across as a liiiittle bit OOC to some of you in comparison to where the characters are at in canon, but I just… I need Regina to have SOMETHING okay? Writing about her heartbreak is so painful. Her bits with Henry and Roland are the only rays of sunshine in this story right now and I intend to keep them. Besides, I truly think that Henry being there this time around is what will stop Regina from going full on Evil Queen mode on the show so I figured I'd explore that here as well._**

**_Looking forward to your reviews!_**

**'_Til Friday =)_**

**_-B_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I just own the feels.**_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"I don't want you to go," Roland said to her later as they reached his house.

"I have to, sweetheart, I need to take care of some things."

"But you'll be back tomorrow, won't you?"

"If you want me to."

"Yes!" he exclaimed with a smile, not letting go of her hand as he skipped his way to his door and knocked on it.

Robin appeared on the other side. He was barefoot, wearing gray lounge pants and a stretchy, white T-shirt that molded so perfectly to the planes of his chest that Regina had to stop herself from groaning at the sight. He was tugging at the material, as if not completely used to it yet, but stopped and beamed at his son when he jumped into his arms.

"You seem chipper," he said to Roland as he picked him up.

"Papa, we had milkshakes!" he screamed excitedly.

"Were they good?" Robin asked, and Roland nodded enthusiastically before Robin put him down, both he and Regina watching him high-five Henry before running inside. Robin then shook Henry's hand and turned to face Regina. His eyes were tender, drinking her in as if he longed for her. It made her nervous.

"Thank you for taking him out today," he said quietly.

"Thank _you_ for letting me bring him along, he's wonderful. I… I was actually thinking he could spend the day at my place tomorrow, if Ma— if that's alright with you?" she amended.

"Sounds great, but I'll have to ask Marian," Robin said, pretending he had not seen her falter at the mention of his wife's name.

"Ask me what?" came a voice, and seconds later, Marian popped up behind Robin, wearing nothing but a bathrobe, her hair in disarray as she smiled at her husband and their guests. Regina froze at the sight, feeling a puncturing pain in her chest as the realization of what they had probably just interrupted hit her.

"Um, I just thought… I mean, if you want… maybe Roland could come spend the day with me tomorrow."

"Actually, I was thinking we could do something together tomorrow," Marian said to Robin, "you know, _as a family_," she finished with a pointed glance.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean… It's okay, I'm just gonna go," she stammered, turning around quickly and grabbing Henry's hand.

"No, wait!" Robin said, stepping forward and grabbing her arm gently.

"I have to go, lots to do," she tried to sound casual, but as she heard herself speak, she knew she was failing.

"Is it alright if we drop Roland off after breakfast?" he asked her, intently ignoring Marian's outraged expression.

"Yes, that… that would work, sure," Regina knew she was making a fool of herself, but it was as if her nerves refused to cooperate and were out to get her.

"Good, we'll see you then," Robin whispered before turning his head back towards the house and calling for his son, "Roland! Regina and Henry are leaving, come say goodbye!"

A mop of brown curls smacked against Regina before Robin was even done talking. Roland wrapped his arms around her as she picked him up and smiled at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" she asked, and he nodded at her with a big smile on his face, tightening his little arms around her neck as she spoke. Roland then planted a big, sticky kiss on Regina's cheek and she was so wrapped up in him that for a moment she forgot the others were watching them. Chuckled at Roland, Regina rubbed the tip of her nose against his like she'd done earlier and set him back down to rejoin his father. That's when she noticed that Marian was staring daggers at her, but Regina chose to ignore it, avoiding eye contact and putting her arm around Henry before saying a hurried goodbye and walking away.

Before they rounded the corner, however, they heard hurried footsteps behind them and turned to find Robin jogging towards them.

"May we speak for a moment?" he said to Regina, and Henry's eyes tightened.

"Is everything alright with Roland?"

"Yes he's fine, I just… I must speak with you. Please?" he said again, and Regina looked back at Henry, who now had his arms crossed in front of him as he stared Robin down. A silent communication passed between mother and son, and Henry did not seem keen on leaving her side, but Regina gave him a small smile and whispered "it's okay," to him. He finally nodded and moved a few steps away to give them some privacy.

"I didn't lie with her," was Robin's first sentence when Regina turned to face him.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Marian. I haven't… I realized how things must have looked just now and I… I wanted to be sure you knew that. We haven't… I didn't-" he tried to explain, but she cut him off.

"Stop. You don't need to explain yourself to me. She's your wife, it's only logical that you…" she couldn't bring herself to say it, so she changed her sentence instead, "you don't have to tell me anything, I'm nothing to you anymore."

"You've never been nothing, Regina, especially not to me."

"Well, that's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to make excuses or explain things to me. You have a wife, we're not together, it's not like you're cheating on me," she said, and he knew she was right, but it didn't make him feel any less awful.

"Either way, I just wanted you to know."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you want me to know?"

"Because that day… it meant something to me. I don't want you to think that just because Marian is back, everything that happened between us was a lie. It was real, all of it."

Regina didn't know what to say to that, so she took a deep breath and merely replied with "I understand," before looking down at her clasped hands.

"I should go," she said without lifting her gaze.

"Right! Sorry," Robin said, as if he'd been snapped out of a trance. Finally, she looked up and into his eyes for a minute before saying goodbye again and walking back to Henry, who decided to give her space and not ask for details, merely holding her hand while she watched Robin go back the way he'd come, her eyes swimming in unshed tears that she blinked away when he was out of sight and they resumed their walk home.

"Hey, what was all that about at the park?" Henry suddenly asked, remembering the urgency with which she had needed to leave.

"I don't know, exactly, I just know that something's not right. Doesn't it seem strange to you how cold it is all of a sudden?" she asked. Henry gasped.

"I thought that was just me! Were those flurries we saw today?" He asked, and his mother nodded, "I've noticed that it's getting dark earlier in the day too, but I figured it was just some residual magic from the time portal or something," he continued. He had wondered at the change in the weather, but hadn't really given much thought to it being something out of the ordinary.

"No, our weather can't really be affected by Zelena's magic, or mine for that matter."

"Maybe it's just a random cold front?" he asked, though he sounded doubtful.

"No. I mean, it could be… but it doesn't feel-"

"_Natural,_" they both said at the same time.

"So what do you think is causing it?"

"I have no idea, but I'll find out," Regina said with determination, "are you okay staying with Emma for the night while I scout the town and see what I can find?"

"Mom, there's no way I'm leaving you alone for this. What if it turns out to be something dangerous?"

"All the more reason for you to stay. We don't know what we're dealing with, Henry. It might be nothing, but if it _is _something, I don't know how well I can protect you against an unknown threat and I cannot -_will not- _lose you again," she said, her eyes fearful as she remembered everything that had happened in Neverland. Henry sighed and nodded, understanding her need to do this without him. He pulled out his cell phone.

"I'll call Emma and have her come pick me up at your place."

* * *

Emma was already there when they reached Regina's mansion.

"What is it, what's wrong?" she asked them as they approached.

"Mom thinks something magical may be causing this weird weather," Henry filled her in before Regina could try to stop Emma from finding out.

"I've been wondering what was up with all the ice," she said pensively.

"Ice? We saw some flurries, but that's it," Regina momentarily put aside her anger at Emma in order to gather more information. Emma seemed surprised that the queen was not actively insulting her or trying to hurt her, but she didn't dwell on it, answering her question instead.

"Yeah, there's a big patch of the forest towards the town limits that is frozen over, I noticed it walking around there yesterday. Lots of snow in the nearby bushes too."

"And you didn't think it was suspicious that there was a random patch of ice in the forest?" Regina asked exasperatedly.

"I just figured winter had come a little early. You know, global warming and all that."

"You're useless," Regina muttered with a roll of her eyes and immediately went to her door, opening it to let Henry in so he could get his backpack while she found a heavier coat and some winter boots in the back of her closet and grabbed the keys to her car.

"Which way?" she asked Emma hurriedly.

"Come on, Regina. If this was a magic thing or an enemy, don't you think it would be freezing _us _instead of a few patches of grass in the forest?"

"Which. Way?" Regina asked again, her tone menacing. Emma huffed, but finally answered.

"East of the main road, by the two big pine trees near the town line. Just walk straight through and you'll start seeing it when you get to the clearing."

Regina turned and started walking to her car at a brisk pace.

"Regina?" Emma called after her. Gritting her teeth, she turned to face her.

"What?"

"I know you hate me right now, but just… be careful, okay? And call if you need us," Emma said, worry clear on her face. Regina gave her a curt nod, blew a quick kiss to Henry and got into her car, driving off towards the forest. Henry watched her go with a frown on his face. Something about Regina going off alone worried him.

"Mom, shouldn't we go after her and try to help?" he asked Emma.

"She doesn't want you in harm's way, kid, and I agree with her, it's best if you stay here where it's safe."

"But what if something happens?"

"Have you seen your mother's magic? She'll be fine, Henry, don't worry," she said as she put her hand in the back of his neck and turning him around to walk back to David and Snow's place.

* * *

Emma had told her she'd start seeing the ice when she got to the clearing. But it wasn't just the clearing anymore. The lower branches of the two pine trees were now heavy with snow and icicles as well, and there was no explanation for it. Parking her car to the side of the road, Regina got out and began inspecting the area, her snow boots making soppy noises as they stepped on the squishy wet forest floor.

After inspecting the branches of nearby trees and the patches of ice that covered the grass around her, Regina began to notice that the ice did not melt at her touch. The weather was cold, sure, but not cold enough to keep everything frozen like this without melting at least a little. This was definitely not a natural occurrence.

Walking deeper into the forest, she realized the ice patches were getting bigger, and then it wasn't just the floor anymore, but the trees and bushes around her, all covered in ice and snow, to the point where the vegetation was no longer visible. Instead, she found herself facing smooth walls of ice that filtered the dull rays of light shining through the clouds as the sun began to set, illuminating the area beautifully and making Regina gasp in awe. Anxious as she was about the origin of it, she couldn't help but marvel at how gorgeous it all was.

Suddenly, she heard a noise behind her and immediately whipped her head around, trying to find the source. At first, she couldn't see anything, and then she caught a movement to her right and turned just in time to see the end of a long, blond braid slip behind a frozen tree.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you," she called out, though she wasn't sure she could promise that.

"Please, I need to talk to you," she tried again when no one replied.

She had half a mind to throw a fireball towards where the intruder was hiding when she saw a pair of big, icy blue eyes pop out from behind the tree.

"Hi," Regina said cautiously, "it's okay, I'm just here to talk."

"They all say that, and then they throw fire at me," came a woman's voice.

"I won't throw fire at you."

"Of course you won't, everything around us is covered in ice, you can't possibly start a fire here," she replied haughtily, and Regina raised her hands in surrender, not wanting to reveal her magic powers to the stranger just yet.

"I only want to know why you're trying to freeze my town," she said, and the woman finally left her hiding place and stepped into view. She was young and pale, her hair a platinum blond, pulled back in a braid that seemed to have tiny snowflakes scattered along it. She wore a long, pale blue gown, a beautiful cape with elaborate embroidery billowing out from the back of her shoulders. Her light blue eyes were lined with thick lashes, her face striking thanks to her high cheekbones and thin, perfectly arched eyebrows.

"I'm Elsa, queen of Arendelle," she said as she looked Regina over.

"Regina, queen of the Enchanted Forest and Mayor of Storybrooke."

"Storybrooke? Is that what this place is called?"

"Yes. Now, may I ask what it is you're doing here?" Regina went on.

"I honestly have no idea. I felt a commotion and all of a sudden my prison no longer bound me and I could walk free. When I left that bottle, I found myself here."

"Bottle?"

"Yes. I was magically bound to live inside a brass bottle, from which I escaped. I still don't know how, but no matter, I'm free now."

"Emma," Regina muttered under her breath, the name a curse on her lips. This had to be Emma's fault, she must have brought the bottle back with her when she opened the time portal in Rumplestilskin's vault.

"Uh, it's _Elsa,_" the ice queen corrected.

"No, not you, my… friend, Emma" the term 'friend' sounded strange, but she had no idea how else to define her without scaring the ice queen, "she used a time portal, she must have brought you back here without realizing it."

"Oh! Well tell her I said thank you."

"You haven't answered my question."

"Which is…?"

"Why are you freezing my town?"

"I'm not!"

"Really?" Regina asked, eyebrow raised and waving her arm in a circle all around them.

"Oh please, this is nothing! I once froze all of Arendelle," Elsa replied.

"Well, you're freezing all of Storybrooke. Slowly, but you definitely are," Regina thought she saw a flicker of worry in Elsa's face, but it was gone before she could question her about it.

"Why were you in that bottle?" she asked instead.

"I… I did things… awful things… people died. It was my fault."

"I'm not sure I believe that," Regina replied, not able to visualize Elsa as evil.

"I don't care what you believe," Elsa snapped, and Regina apologized immediately.

"I'm just trying to understand," she said.

"There's nothing to understand. I'm dangerous, and everyone should stay away from me."

"What about your family?" Regina asked, and Elsa's eyes watered instantly, but she blinked the tears away before they fell.

"I don't have a family, not anymore."

"But you did. Before you came here?"

"Yes."

"Do they know what happened to you?"

"They're dead."

"Oh… Oh!" Regina finally understood what Elsa was trying to say.

"I don't need you to feel sorry for me," Elsa said ferociously as soon as she noticed the hint of tenderness in Regina's face.

"Will you tell me what happened?"

"Why?"

"A long time ago, I was known as the Evil Queen… I still am, to some people. I'd daresay I understand what you're going through, dear. Might do you good to talk."

"My parents died at sea. My sister died because of me, that's all you need to know."

"I'm sure you didn't mean for her to die."

"Of course I didn't! She was my sister! But I was born with these powers and all they've done is ruin my life," Elsa replied in frustration, and it finally dawned on Regina.

"You can't control it." It wasn't a question, but Elsa shook her head anyway, confirming Regina's statement.

"I thought I could, once. I even did for a while, once we discovered how to do it, but then things got out of hand and, well…" she shrugged instead of finishing her sentence.

"How did you? Control it, I mean," Regina asked, and Elsa smiled sadly.

"Love," she said simply.

"Love?"

"An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart," Elsa recited, "my sister saved my life. Her love for me, and mine for her, gave me the strength I needed to control my powers, and I learned how to use them."

"What happened? Why isn't that enough anymore?"

"Because my sister is dead thanks to me."

"But you just said-" Regina began, but Elsa cut in.

"Even after I learned how to control it, there were people in Arendelle who did not approve of me, who didn't want me on the throne because of what I am. They got rowdy, starting riots and attacking the palace. At one point they took Anna, and I snapped."

"Did _they _kill her?"

"No, that was all my doing," Elsa said with a humorless chuckle, "I tried to save her, but they were so violent, I got angry and frustrated, and then I lost it, I lost my grip on my powers, I let my emotions get the better of me, and I froze them. I froze them all, including Anna." There was a sorrow in her voice, one Regina knew all too well.

"After that, I turned myself in, and they had a sorcerer from a faraway land lock me up in that bottle forever, so that I could never hurt anyone else," she finished.

"It wasn't your fault," she tried again.

"Yes. It was." Elsa was balling her fists and gritting her teeth now, her memories haunting her.

"I'm sorry that it happened, but you were scared, they had your sister, they took the person you loved from you, that would make anyone lose their grip. Trust me," Regina said knowingly.

"First Kristoff, now you. I am so sick and tired of being told that I'm better than what I am, that I don't deserve this. I'm the monster parents tell their children about in my kingdom, I murdered my own sister!" Elsa was exasperated now, icicles shooting from her hands.

"I'm just trying to—"

"No, you're leaving. Right now."

"No," Regina was back in regal mode, unwavering as she stood up straighter and looked right at Elsa, "not until you unfreeze my town."

"I don't care that you're a queen, I will freeze you too if you don't get out of here."

"I'm sorry, did I stutter? I have a son who might be in danger because _you _can't control your powers, so you either find a way to stop this before all of Storybrooke ends up like your Arendelle or—"

"Or what?" Elsa challenged.

"Or you'll have _me_ to deal with."

"I'm not scared of you," Elsa said, her voice tinted with superiority.

"Believe me, dear, you should be," Regina replied menacingly as she raised her hand to conjure up a fireball, but before she could, a beam of ice from Elsa's hand hit the side of her head, and Regina's world went black.

* * *

**_Sorry in advance for the cliffy! I promise not to be so horrible to you with next week's update._**

**_Please review! And have a wonderful weekend! =)_**

**_-B_**


	6. Chapter 6

_**If I owned these characters, the entire show would just be Regina and Robin making out and being adorable and happy, just saying.**_

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

Marian was holding his hand as they walked, with Roland in front of them, happily skipping his way down the street. It felt nice to be a family again, and now that Roland wasn't so apprehensive about Marian, they'd managed to spend an entire morning together without incident. Robin felt light for the first time in days, loving the fact that his life seemed to be back on track. He looked at his wife and smiled at her tenderly. Sure, his feelings for Marian were not what they used to be, but she was still his wife, and there was still something there, he was sure that with time he would build up to loving her as fiercely as he once did.

That content feeling was pulverized the second they turned onto Regina's street, the thought of seeing her again taking over his entire being. Robin couldn't understand why he was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to hold _her _hand instead of Marian's, hadn't he just been thinking about how happy it made him to have his wife back? Now he felt like a boy again, his heart jumping at the very thought of being near Regina, to hear her voice and see her smile.

Marian noticed the change in Robin's demeanor the moment it happened, but she refused to acknowledge it. They'd had such a great morning together, no need to spoil it. Her husband had been attentive and affectionate with her, and she was starting to feel like they would be alright after all, but looking at him now, it was obvious to her that he was still drawn to the queen, and Marian was starting to hate her for it.

They were both so absorbed in their own thoughts that they didn't realize they had reached Regina's house until Roland screamed "Henry!" and ran towards the boy, who was by the door with Emma and Killian.

"Hey there!" Henry replied, trying to sound cheerful, but he knew he wasn't fooling anyone.

Robin took Roland's hand and put it in Marian's, silently asking her to take him away for a moment while he talked to the others.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, and he could see Henry's eyes narrow when he addressed him.

"We can't find mom," he said, looking straight at Robin.

"What do you mean, you can't find her? She said she'd be here when we brought Roland."

"Well she's not, mate, and as you can probably tell, we're a little worried," came Killian's voice from behind Emma.

"I'm going after her," Emma said.

"But we don't know where she is," Robin said.

"We do, actually… or at least, we think we do," Henry replied.

"She went to investigate something in the forest yesterday, my guess is she's still there," Emma told Robin, and his eyes widened.

"You let her go alone?!"

"Hey! It's not like she would've let me go with her after what I did," she said defensively, waving an arm towards Marian, who had her back turned as she watched Roland chase after a cricket in the grass.

"I'll go get my crossbow and meet you back here," he said, not waiting for Emma's response as he walked back to his family and started to lead them away from the mansion.

"Papa, why are we leaving? Where's Regina?" Roland asked.

"She's not home right now, son."

"Did she run away? Does she not want to see me anymore?" Roland was worried now.

"No, Roland, nothing of the sort, she just got held up trying to find something, but Emma and I are going to go look for her, alright?"

"You're what?" Marian said, startling Robin.

"I'm going with Emma to find her," his tone booked no argument, yet Marian insisted.

"But why?!" she complained, and Robin gently grabbed her arm and pulled her aside so that Roland could not hear them.

"Marian, she might be in danger and need our help, it's not like her to just disappear."

"She's a sorceress, if she really is in danger, I'm sure she can handle herself, no need to risk your life for someone like her."

"'Someone like her'? Marian, we are not doing this right now, there are more pressing matters than your jealousy."

"My…?!"

"I'm going to find Regina, and if she needs me, I'm going to help her. I know it's hard for you to understand, and I know that it's inappropriate considering the situation, but I can't just stand here while she may be suffering," he said as he started walking again.

"You're making way too big an issue about this, she could just be taking a walk in the forest," Marian said when they had reached their house and Robin grabbed his crossbow.

"Emma said she was investigating something there yesterday. Whatever it was, it might have harmed her."

"But-"

"Marian, we do not have time for this," his voice was fierce, and for the first time, she focused on the way his eyes seemed to sparkle with a ferociousness she hadn't seen in years, a need to protect someone he cared about, a protectiveness that was usually reserved for her.

"You love her," she gasped out as it dawned on her, but Robin didn't hear her, as he was already making his way to Roland's room to talk to him.

"I'm going to the forest with Emma to find Regina, you stay with mama and be a good boy, okay?" Roland nodded, but he looked like he was about to cry.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's alright. It's a big forest, she probably just got lost," Robin said, trying to ease his son's worries. The boy nodded again.

"Bring her back, papa," was all he said before Robin kissed his forehead and walked away without so much as a look at his wife. Marian scowled as he closed the door behind him, how dare he disregard her like that?! And for the Evil Queen, of all people!

"Mama?" Roland interrupted her inner tirade.

"Yes, Roland?"

"Is Regina going to be okay?" he asked, and it angered her that this woman was the center of attention of both men in her life, so while she couldn't bring herself to say anything that would break her son's heart, her answer still sounded offhanded and detached.

"I'm sure she's fine, baby."

"Papa will bring her back, won't he?"

"He'll try, that's for damn sure," she muttered to herself before turning her head to look at Roland again.

"Do you want to play? Or we can paint! That way we'll have something to show your father when he gets home!" she was enthusiastic, but he only shook his head, pouting as he did so.

"Can I just wait for papa?" he asked her, and she couldn't find it in herself to deny him anything, so she nodded and watched him kneel in the nook of the window seat in his room, looking out to the street with his cheek propped up on his hand and a forlorn expression on his face.

* * *

Emma let out a gasp as they reached their destination, jumping out of her yellow beetle and surveying the area.

"What is it?" Robin asked as he got out of the car, crossbow at the ready.

"The ice, it's spreading. This wasn't frozen the last time I was here," she told him, pointing to the two big pine trees on the side of the road.

"Do you see her anywhere?" he asked urgently, checking the area around Regina's abandoned car.

"No, but she might've gone into the clearing, come on," Emma answered as she walked ahead, leading the way to the spot she had told the queen about. When they got there, there was nothing but ice, an ominous feeling seeping into their bones as they looked around for clues.

"Right, you go that way, I'll check the other side of these walls, see if we can find anything," Emma said and saw him nod at her before she turned around and quickly made her way behind the blocks of ice that surrounded them.

With Emma gone, Robin began to notice how quiet it all was. There was an eerie stillness in the air, as if any sound made within the enclosed space would be swallowed up by the imposing walls of ice. He could see his breath in the air whenever he exhaled, and as he slowly walked in the ice and snow, he couldn't help but worry about whatever was causing all this.

Stepping over a few frozen branches that had broken off an equally frozen tree, Robin noticed a flash of color out of the corner of his eye and turned to find the end of a burgundy scarf peeking out from behind a mound of snow. He had seen that scarf before.

"Emma!" he called out as his eyes widened in realization. He dropped his crossbow and ran to the spot, finding an unconscious Regina on the icy forest floor.

He gasped as he let himself fall to his knees beside her, putting an arm under her and propping her up while he patted her face with his other hand.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, Regina, wake up!" he urgently whispered as he shook her slightly, trying to elicit a reaction from her, but to no avail. Her lips were blue, her skin pale, and there were tiny icicles collecting on her eyelashes.

Robin laid her back down against his legs and immediately took off his coat and wrapped it around her to try and warm her up, but again, there was no reaction. Desperate, he put his arms under her and lifted her up, her head lolling back before he shifted and let it rest against his chest, one of her arms nestled against his body while the other fell limp at her side.

"Emma, where are you?! Emma!" he called again, louder this time, and finally he heard hurried footsteps coming his way.

"You can't do this to me, you have to wake up," he murmured brokenly as he brought her closer and pressed his forehead to her temple, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please wake up, please, please, please," he kept whispering against the cold skin of her cheek, stopping only when he heard Emma's voice.

"Regina!" she exclaimed as she ran to them, she checked Regina's head for severe injuries and exhaled in relief when she found none, only a scrape on the left side of her forehead. She then put two fingers against the queen's neck.

"She has a pulse," she said, "it's weak, but it's there. Come on, we have to get her to the hospital."

Emma let Robin go first and then grabbed his crossbow, aiming it at the frozen trees and keeping a wary eye as she backed her way out of the small ice fortress. Right before Robin had called her over, she was sure she'd seen a figure behind one of the walls of ice, and she was not going to let whatever it was stop them from getting Regina out of this place.

Though it was difficult to move through the snow and the ice around them, Robin's steps were steady and full of determination, and they got to the car in no time. He gently placed Regina's unconscious body in the back seat and climbed in, putting her head in his lap and wrapping his coat tighter around her, bending down to press a kiss against her forehead while Emma drove back to Storybrooke, using her cell to call Dr. Whale and let him know what was going on.

The hospital was bustling with activity when they arrived, a gurney already waiting for them outside. A couple paramedics were opening the door and trying to get Regina out, but Robin wouldn't let them, choosing instead to carry her out himself and placing her gently on the gurney. Dr. Whale then took over, shouting orders and opening one of Regina's eyes and then the other as he flashed a light into them.

As Robin and Emma followed them through a set of double doors and then a second, they were stopped by a nurse, who told them they could not go through and had to wait outside. Begrudgingly, they went back to the waiting area, where Robin frustratingly kicked a table full of magazines.

"Hey," Emma said as she touched his arm comfortingly, "she'll be alright."

"You don't know that," he replied.

"Of course I do. She's the queen, the most resilient, she'll get through this," her tone was so hopeful, Robin desperately wanted to believe her, but the truth was there was a big chance they had not found her in time, and it weighed on them.

After what felt like forever –though the clock on the wall told them it had only been an hour-, Dr. Whale came out of the double doors, his face betraying nothing.

"How is she?!" Emma asked before Robin could.

"She's got severe hypothermia, but we managed to stabilize her and are now gradually bringing her body temperature back to normal. Was she out there the whole night?" Whale asked, and both Robin and Emma nodded in response.

"She's lucky. If she had been exposed for another couple hours or so, her organs would have started to fail and we may not have been able to do anything for her. As it stands, she's responding well to the meds and in time, she should be able to make a full recovery."

Relief flooded Robin with a force so great he felt he would collapse any second. He bent down and rested his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths as he let the thought register in his head over and over again: _she's alive, she's safe, she's going to be okay._

"She's sedated so she won't wake up until tomorrow, but you can go in and see her, if you want," Dr. Whale said, looking at Emma.

"Actually, I'm gonna call Henry and let him know what happened. You go, Robin," she answered, getting her phone out of her pocket and walking away towards a secluded corner to talk to her son.

Quietly, Robin stepped into the room, not sure what to expect. He inhaled sharply when he saw her, covered in blankets, her hair loose and spread over the pillow while strange machines beeped around her, a clear liquid dripping from a bag and through a plastic tube connected to her arm. She was still incredibly pale, but Robin was glad to see that her lips had their color back and her eyelashes were no longer covered in tiny specks of ice.

He walked closer to her, grabbing an old chair that sat by the window of the small room and dragging it toward her bed so he could sit by her. He took her hand in his, only noticing he had done so when he brought her wrist to his lips to place a gentle kiss there. He said nothing, he just looked at her, taking her in and thanking any and all deities that she was alive.

"Henry's on his way, Killian's bringing him," came a soft voice from the door, and Robin turned around to acknowledge Emma.

"Is she really going to be alright?" he asked, somehow still needing confirmation.

"I told you, she's not called the most resilient for nothing. That woman will outlive us all," Emma replied with a small smile, which Robin returned before turning his head back to Regina, running the back of his hand down her cheek.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked.

"Now that I know she's safe, yes, I am."

"It's a good thing you came with me. You were so worried before that I didn't want to say anything, but…" Emma proceeded to tell Robin about the figure she had seen in the forest.

"Do you think that's what hurt Regina?" he asked, his voice low.

"I have no idea, but I have a feeling I would have ended up just like her if you hadn't come with me. Whatever that thing was, it ran off as soon as you called out my name, I don't think it realized someone else was there with me up until that point."

"Could that be what's causing the forest to freeze?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure Regina does, hopefully she'll have some info for us when she wakes up. For now, though, let's focus on getting her better."

"Yes, of course," Robin replied immediately, his eyes drifting back to Regina's peaceful face, both his hands grabbing hold of one of hers again while Emma stood off to the side, looking at them and finally grasping just how badly she'd screwed up by bringing Marian back. It was obvious that Robin had feelings for Regina, that he could've made her happy, and now because of what she'd done, they were forced to be apart from each other.

"I'll be outside, waiting for Henry," she suddenly said and left the room, stopping at the end of the hallway to take several deep breaths before she headed to the waiting area, where Henry and Killian showed up a few minutes later.

"Mom!" Henry gasped as he reached her, "where is she? Is she okay?!" he was frantic.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, kid, she's gonna be fine. Dr. Whale said she's responding well to treatment and she'll make a full recovery, it's just going to take some time."

"Can I see her?" he asked, his eyes watery, and Emma nodded as she smiled sadly at him.

"Of course you can. Come on, Robin's with her," she replied, noticing the flicker of anger that passed through Henry's face as she said it.

"Henry, I know you feel like he betrayed her, but it really wasn't his fault. The guy's _wife_ came back from the dead, he couldn't just ditch her," she said sternly.

"I know, I just…" he trailed off, and Emma let out a breath before she spoke again.

"I understand, but please don't be mad at him, he's pretty shaken up by all this."

"He is?"

"Yeah, he… he's the one who found her, actually."

They had arrived at the door to Regina's room, and Emma put her hand over Henry's on the knob, leveling her face with his as she looked into his eyes.

"Be good," she said, and Henry could only nod, finally opening the door and slipping inside while Emma went back to Killian, who was quietly sitting in the waiting room, watching her.

"Come here, Swan," he said, standing up and opening his arms to her. Slowly, she walked into them, sounding dejected as she murmured against his coat.

"I did this, it was my fault."

"You know that's not true, love."

"I took away her last chance at happiness, Killian. She could've died today without ever having her happy ending, all because I had to play the hero."

"This is not your fault. It's a terrible turn of events, aye, but you only did what you thought was right, you are not to blame for that," he said as she pulled away to look at him.

"Wanna bet?" she asked with a humorless chuckle. Killian merely looked into her eyes and cupped her cheek with his hand, reveling in the softness of her skin.

"It will be alright," he said before kissing her softly.

* * *

_**A/N: There, a little bonus Captain Swan and a whole lot of Robin feels for ya =)**_

_**Hope everyone has a great weekend! If any of you are going to ComicCon, I would greatly appreciate details of how it all goes and what you learn at the panels, bonus points if you show me pictures of/with the cast (EXTRA bonus points if it's a picture with Lana!)... My Twitter username is verkaiking, same as my username here, so you can find me and show me all the awesome stuff!**_

_**Also, quick reminder that I'm still taking prompts on Tumblr for my Pixie Dust Never Lies compilation. I uploaded one of them already (shoutout to outlawqueenluvr from Tumblr for sending me that first prompt!) and I'm working on two others at the moment, but I'd love to have some more, so if you're interested, drop me a line! Link to my blog is on my profile.**_

_**Thanks for reading and please please PLEASE review!**_

_**See you all next Friday ^^**_

_**-B**_


	7. Chapter 7

**_So sorry for the delay, our power got cut for a few hours (yet one more reason to hate my government, ugh!) so I wasn't able to upload this as early as I would have liked. It's a bit of a filler chapter but I'll try and make the next one extra awesome for you guys._**

**_Again: Characters are not mine_**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

* * *

When Henry opened the door to Regina's room, he faltered, worry overtaking him as he looked at his mother, her eyes were closed and her chest rose and fell steadily with her breaths, as if she were merely sleeping, her condition only evidenced by the sickly pale hue of her skin and the sounds coming from the several machines that surrounded her. Robin sat by her side, holding one of her hands to his lips with both of his, his eyes never leaving her sleeping form. He didn't even notice Henry was in the room until he spoke.

"How's she doing?" he asked, and Robin jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Oh! Hello, lad. She's resting, I don't think she's in pain," he replied, and Henry nodded as he made his way to the other side of the bed and gently patted Regina's head.

"You can go home, I'll stay with her."

"I'm quite alright," Robin said, not even turning his head.

"Roland will be worried. Go get some rest and you can bring him to see her tomorrow when she wakes up," Henry insisted, and though Robin wanted to argue, he couldn't, nodding at Henry instead and placing a last, lingering kiss on Regina's hand before getting up and shuffling his way outside, pausing by the door to look back at them and smiling a little when he noticed that Henry had taken his place in the chair.

He passed Emma and Killian on his way out of the hospital, but didn't stop to talk to them, merely giving Emma a quick wave and hurrying out the big double doors before his resolve failed. He couldn't go back to his place though, not yet. He needed time to breathe, to collect his thoughts, so instead, he went back to the forest, desperately trying to find something, anything, that would give him a clue as to what had happened, hoping he'd run into the shadowed silhouette Emma had mentioned. However, when it got dark and he still had nothing to show for his search, Robin decided to put it off until the next day.

When he got home, it was to find Roland asleep in the window seat in his room, his messy hair covering his face and blowing slightly whenever he exhaled. The sight made Robin smile.

"I tried to move him to the bed, but he just got right back up and sat there," Marian said from the doorway while Robin picked the boy up carefully so as not to wake him. When he put him on the bed, he stirred.

"Papa?" he asked sleepily, instantly perking up when he heard his father reply.

"Yes, son. I'm here, it's alright."

"Did you find her?" he asked, and his voice broke a little.

"We did. She's sick from being out in the cold, but she'll be fine," Robin said, still marveling at how relieved he was to hear those words.

"Can we see her?" Roland asked, sitting up in his bed.

"Not tonight, Roland. She's sleeping, but we can go tomorrow, if she's feeling better."

The boy seemed appeased by that, nodding and hugging his father before cuddling up in his bed again and drifting off to sleep. Robin planted a kiss on his forehead and closed the door behind him, making his way to his own bedroom, where Marian was getting ready for bed.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

"Something attacked her, we don't know what it was. She was passed out on the ice when I found her and the cold, it… it could have killed her, but we got to her in time."

"That's… good," Marian replied, not knowing what else to say.

"I know we have to talk, but it's been an exhausting day, and—" he began, but his wife immediately started shaking her head at him.

"No, no, it's fine, I understand. We can talk tomorrow," she finished, and he gave her a grateful nod and stripped, changing into his sleeping clothes while she snuggled up in her side of the bed.

Robin went into the bathroom, resting his hands against the sink and taking deep breaths before looking at his reflection in the mirror. He was so tired, the full extent of the day's events catching up to him at last. He could've lost her. The sight of Regina's cold, limp body was burned into his memory, and his mind would not stop revisiting the image even as he splashed some water on his face and rubbed his eyes. He forced himself to think of the way he had last seen her, sleeping peacefully with Henry by her side, and it seemed to calm him down enough to go about his nightly routine. The fact that she was alive and safe from harm served as a balm to sooth the ache that had settled in his soul since the moment he'd found out she was missing.

Walking back into his bedroom, he noticed Marian was already asleep, and try as he might, he just couldn't lie next to her. Not tonight. He grabbed a spare blanket and his pillow and went to the living room, setting himself up on the couch, the thought of seeing Regina awake soon lulling him to sleep.

LINE BREAK

The smell woke her up in the middle of the night. It was stale and synthetic and strange, not like the soft, sweet apple scent of her house. Her eyes were so heavy that it took her several tries to be able to open them and when she managed it, she did so slowly.

A dull white glow from a lamp in the hallway was the only source of light in the room, but paired with the moonlight streaming through the window, it was enough for Regina to take in her surroundings and realize she was at Storybrooke Hospital. Everything hurt. It was like someone had taken a sledgehammer to her very bones, her entire body screaming as needles of pain began to register all over it, and she was cold, shivering even while covered in fluffy blankets. Her hand felt warm, though, and looking down she realized it was because Henry was holding it while he slept on a chair next to her, his head on the bed by her leg. Regina smiled at her son through tearful eyes and slowly moved her other hand to thread it in his hair, massaging his head gently as a lone, salty drop fell down her cheek.

"Henry," she gasped out, her voice broken and raspy. It took the boy a minute to wake, but when he did, he jumped up instantly.

"I'm gonna go get Dr. Whale," he said hurriedly, but Regina shook her head, flinching at how much it hurt when she did.

"Not yet," she said, and Henry shook his head, insisting.

"We need him to check on you, I'll be back soon," he replied, but Regina squeezed his hand before he could remove it from hers.

"Please," she rasped, looking deep into his eyes, silently begging him to let her have this. He nodded at last and then collapsed on the bed as he hugged her.

"I was so scared I would lose you," he whispered shakily into her ear, which only made her hug him tighter, even though it hurt to move.

"It's okay, I'm okay," she kept saying, her hand rubbing his back up and down in an attempt to comfort him. She had expected him to start asking questions immediately, but he didn't. Instead, he cuddled next to her on the bed and draped his arm across her middle, snuggling his head on her chest as she wrapped her arm around him, wincing a little when she accidentally pulled on her IV line. The hospital bed was a bit too small for the two of them, and Regina knew he must be uncomfortable as he crammed himself in what little space was available, but he didn't seem to care, and in all honesty, neither did she. The feeling of having her son back in her arms was too wonderful to pass up. Henry then brought one of the blankets that had slid down her body when she moved and threw it over both of them, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

"I love you, mom," his grip on her tightened a little when he said it.

"I love you too, Henry," Regina replied softly, resting her cheek on the top of his head and letting herself drift off to sleep once again.

LINE BREAK

The next morning, Regina woke up with Henry still curled at her side. She placed a kiss on his forehead and took a deep breath, just enjoying having him there with her.

A few minutes later, an elderly nurse came into the room and checked the readings on the machines surrounding Regina.

"Oh good, you're awake. That was quite a scare you gave us, your majesty, but I'm happy to report that you'll be back to top form in no time," she told her in a low voice, so as not to wake Henry, and Regina nodded and thanked her. The nurse then smiled tenderly at them.

"He's a good boy. Ms. Swan kept trying to get him to go home last night and rest, but he wouldn't have it, said he was not leaving this hospital until you did. The prince offered to stay with him," the nurse then tilted her head towards the couch, where David was fast asleep. Regina had not noticed him there when she'd woken up the night before, too caught up in being able to hold Henry again to care about anything else.

"When can I go home?" she asked, and it felt like darts were stabbing her throat as she spoke.

"You'll have to ask Dr. Whale, but I'd say two, three days tops," she said cheerfully as she took her leave, letting her know the doctor would be in shortly.

Regina felt Henry stir and then yawn as he cuddled closer to her, opening his eyes and smiling at his mother.

"Hi," he said sleepily.

"Hi, there," she whispered, smiling back at him.

"Did you sleep well? I didn't crush you, did I?" he asked, worried again. Regina stopped him from getting up, hugging him closer.

"It was the best sleep I've had in a long time," she told him.

"That was because of the meds, though," he teased, and she shook her head with a smile on her face.

"You shouldn't have been out there alone," Henry said then, his tone growing serious.

"Henry…" she began, but he kept talking.

"I get that you're sad, mom, but facing something dangerous on your own is not going to help make things better, you should have taken someone with you."

"He's right, you can't just go off on your own for something like that, Regina," came David's tired voice from the couch as he woke up and began to stretch. She'd forgotten he was there.

"And just what gives _you _the right to dictate what I can and can't do?" she fired back at him, though her weak voice failed to have the authoritarian effect she was looking for.

"He is my grandson, I don't want him to lose his mother," David said firmly, and her anger lapsed momentarily as she basked in his recognition of her relationship with Henry. None of the Charmings had ever really acknowledged her to be his mother until now. She turned to her son.

"Henry, this had nothing to do with me being sad, I just wanted to see what was happening, and I'd rather not have to put someone else's life at risk."

"Well I'd rather you didn't put _your_ life at risk. No more going into the forest alone, okay?" he asked, his voice stern. Regina opened her mouth to argue, but something about the way Henry was looking at her made the words catch in her throat, so she closed her mouth and nodded instead.

"I promise," she said when she finally spoke.

"What happened, anyway?" David asked, rubbing his eyes as he got up from the couch and walked over to them.

"I'd rather not discuss that right now," she said, feeling her eyelids droop.

"Go back to sleep, mom, I'll be here when you wake up," her son said, taking his place at the chair by her bed again.

"Why don't you go home instead? You can take a proper nap in your own bed, eat something, and then you can come back," his mother said, lifting her head to look at him.

"She's right, Henry. Besides, I'm sure Emma and Snow would like to see you," David said.

"Grandpa, I told you yesterday, I'm not leaving until she does."

"Henry, I'd feel much better if I knew you're well. Staying cooped up in this hospital can't be good for you," Regina added.

"Mom, I'm fine, and I'm staying with you," Henry said, determined not to leave her side. Regina simply let out of a breath and let her head fall back on the pillow.

"Fine, you win, but only because I'm too tired to argue right now," she said with a bit of quiet amusement in her voice as Dr. Whale walked into the room.

"I don't know what the hell you were doing out there, but you're lucky to be alive right now," he said by way of greeting.

"Leave the chastising or another time, Whale, and just tell me when I can go home," she rasped as she watched him check the machines.

"Vitals look fine, blood pressure seems stable, but I'm keeping you under observation for the next two days. If all goes well, you can go home on Thursday. And no, not a day sooner," he said when she started to argue, "I don't care that you're the queen, right now you're my patient, and what I say goes, you're staying here."

"Fine," she huffed, letting her eyes close again as he walked out of the room.

"Such a snappy fellow, isn't he?" David asked with a laugh.

"His insolence would cost him dearly if I could move," Regina replied, but both David and Henry could tell she didn't really mean it.

"I'm going home to check on Snow and the baby, I'll stop by Granny's on the way back here to get you some soup, I have a feeling hospital food is not your thing," David said with a grin, "Henry, are you alright staying here on your own for a little while?"

"I'll be fine," the boy replied, nodding at his grandfather.

"Okay, I'll be back later with breakfast. Call my cell if you need anything," he replied, making his way out the door.

"David?" Regina called from her bed.

"Yes?" he asked, popping his head back in.

"Thank you… for spending the night so that Henry could stay with me," she replied, and felt a knot form in her throat as she realized how much she meant it. David gave her a small smile and a nod before he finally left the room.

LINE BREAK

_He was holding her at last. He had run who knows how many miles, but he'd reached her, right before she disappeared. Her scent was sweet and intoxicating, her smile blinding as he looked down at her and marveled at how perfectly she fit against him. She was wearing a heavy, red velvet coat, her body clad in black leather under it, her posture displaying her as every bit the queen that she was, but her hair was short, her face soft and devoid of the heavy makeup that usually accompanied the lush outfits. She was the queen and she was Regina and she was his. He wanted to shout it to the heavens even as he held her hands in his to his chest and leaned down ever so slowly to touch his lips to hers._

"Papa," someone whispered in his ear. He tried to shut the voice out and hold on to his dream, where the ends of her silky hair danced between his fingers and the feel of her hands on his skin overwhelmed him, the softness of her lips taking over his entire world.

"Papa," the voice said again, and this time he felt something poking his bare shoulder.

"Papa wake up," the voice was a bit louder now, the poking more insistent.

"Roland, what is it?" Robin asked, eyes still closed.

"The sky's awake," his son whispered. Robin opened one eye and caught a tiny ray of sunshine coming in through the curtains on the living room window. He scrunched up his nose, rubbing his face with one hand.

"It's early, son," _too early, _Robin thought.

"You said we could go see Regina," Roland whispered back. He had now climbed on the couch and was resting his chin on his father's chest with a pout.

Robin took a deep breath and shook his head, he should have known. Roland had been so worried about Regina, of course he would want to go see her as soon as he woke up.

"Papa," his son whispered again when he noticed Robin wasn't moving.

"Go get ready while I make breakfast and then we can go, alright?" his father whispered back. Roland quietly got off the couch and padded to his room, leaving Robin to ponder about the previous day's events. There was so much turmoil in his heart, he couldn't make out what it was that he was feeling, but he was sure about one thing, no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to let Regina go. He was a fool to ever think his feelings for Marian would return to what they used to be, and he felt horrible for knowing that the intensity with which he had once loved her would probably never come back. He couldn't just leave her, and he couldn't just show up and tell all this to Regina either, especially not now when she was so weak and there was probably a new enemy on the loose. Hell, he wasn't even sure what he was thinking of doing, all he knew was that his feelings for Regina were stronger than anything he'd ever felt, and it scared him and thrilled him all at the same time.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Like I said, filler chapter, but I hope the little bits of Regal Believer helped! And it seems Robin is finally catching on to what we all know! =)  
**_

_**Also a heads up! GISHWHES starts tomorrow and if it's anything like last year, it's gonna be a hectic week. I'll try to keep to the update schedule but just know that if I don't, I'll get to it as soon as the hunt is over. BTW, if any of you would like to help my team and I out with GISHWHES, that'd be great too! My twitter name is also verkaiking and a link to my Tumblr is on my profile, so just find me on either of those and let me know if you're up for it! It's gonna be awesome.**_

_**I've noticed reviews are down, but the Favorite and Followers counts just keep rising so I just wanna give a big, massive THANK YOU to those of you who are reading and enjoying this story, it means more than you can possibly know.**_

_**I'd also love to give a big shoutout to AddieGreysPPPEvilRegal for leaving me the sweetest review yet! Literally made me smile like an idiot, so thank you for that!  
**_

_**See you next week!**_

_**-B**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**I own nothing**_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Roland was the one hurrying his father up that morning, which was a first, as the boy was always the one who took ages to get ready, but he was so anxious and excited about seeing Regina that he was showered, fed and bundled in his wool coat and matching tasseled hat, ready to go in less than two hours, waiting by the door while Robin gathered their things and left a note for Marian to read when she woke up. He knew she would hate waking up alone, especially after he had promised her they would talk, but the need to see Regina was too great. Despite Dr. Whale's reassurances, he had to make sure that she was alright, that she was herself again.

When they got to the hospital, Robin was glad to see they weren't the only ones there. David and Ruby sat in the waiting room.

"Good morning," David said when he spotted them, and Roland was momentarily distracted by the sight of baby Neal fussing in his father's arms.

"How is she?" Robin asked immediately.

"She seems to be doing alright, she woke up about two hours ago and was snapping at everyone, as per usual. Snow's with her right now," David replied.

"Is that wise?" Robin knew of the queen's antagonizing relationship with the princess, and though they seemed to have made peace here in Storybrooke, the idea of the two of them locked up in a room together still seemed a bit dangerous.

"They'll be fine," Ruby said and David nodded in reassurance before getting up and walking around the waiting room, trying to get the little prince to fall asleep. Roland then looked up at his father.

"Can I go see her now, papa?"

"Not yet. Princess Snow is with her, let's wait 'til she comes out," Robin told the boy, who nodded and sat cross-legged in one of the chairs, looking around and scrunching his nose.

"Papa?" he asked.

"Yes, son?"

"Why does it smell so funny?"

"They have to clean the place with special liquids so that the air remains clean. Don't want other people to get sick now, do you?" Roland shook his head, the brim of his hat falling slightly over his eyes as he did.

"Does Regina's room smell like this?" he asked then.

"I suppose it does, yes."

"She won't like that," Roland said with a tone that suggested that the hospital staff should know better. Robin looked at his son with an amused smile on his face and then thought of something that might keep Roland entertained until it was time to see Regina.

"How about we go find some flowers for her? That way her room can smell better," he offered, and Roland jumped out of his seat and clapped his hands.

"Yes, flowers! Regina loves flowers," he said excitedly, no doubt remembering the times he'd presented her with clusters of pink and yellow wildflowers while they lived in the Enchanted Forest. Robin recalled those moments fondly as well, for he knew that's when his son had captured the queen's heart, and she had started capturing his own.

"I know where to find the best ones," Ruby said, bringing Robin out of his musings, "come on, I'll take you," she smiled at the boy, holding her hand out to him, and the two of them started walking out of the waiting room and towards the hospital exit. Robin murmured a quick "we'll be right back," to David, and went to join them.

* * *

"I brought you these. Figured you'd be a bit more comfortable in your own pajamas than that flimsy hospital gown," Regina heard Snow say from the door to her room.

"Thank you," she replied, her voice tight as she watched the younger woman walk further into the room and place a bundle of clothes by the foot of her bed.

"How are you feeling?" Snow asked then, looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine, you can leave," she spat back.

"You know, that tough act you're trying to pull? Not working," her step-daughter smiled.

"It's not an act, I said I'm fine, now leave me alone," Regina replied, not willing to let Snow in, not again.

"Regina—"

"No. I will not tolerate another lecture on how your precious daughter was only trying to do the right thing."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"I don't care, get out."

"What I was going to say is that I'm glad you're okay," Snow continued, and her words threw Regina off for a second.

"Yes, well, I'm not that easy to get rid of. Now, go."

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me about this," she said, and the way she spoke made it clear to Regina that she wasn't referring to her incident in the woods.

"I have nothing to say to you… or, well, I have plenty, but I don't wish to make my son despise me again, so just leave."

"Regina…" Snow started again, ignoring her command, and the queen finally snapped.

"It's your fault," she had wanted to scream it at her, but it only came out in a broken whisper, "you told me to not let anything hold me back, that I could be happy if I took a chance, and I was dumb enough to listen to you," she hated to sound so defeated, but there was no other manner in which she could voice her sentiment.

"I meant every word I said that night, Regina," Snow replied, "I do believe that you can be happy if you allow yourself to be."

"Yes, that has worked out _so _well for me," the queen replied, determined not to let the tears fall, holding on to her anger in order to stop the pain from taking over.

"I'm so sorry about what happened, but your happiness _will _find you, Regina. You have to believe that."

"I isolated myself from my own son and cried myself to sleep for days after listening to the last piece of advice you gave me, forgive me if I'm not in a hurry to do it again."

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to believe for you," Snow finally said, sitting at the edge of Regina's bed, next to the folded pajamas she'd brought with her.

"Why do you even care?! Why is it so important to you?!"

"Because I care about _you_, Regina. I know you don't believe that anyone could, but I do. You saved my life when I was a little girl, you save us all from Pan's curse, then did it again when you defeated Zelena, _you helped me get my baby back._ You changed for Henry, you earned his love. I have to believe that you will find the happiness you deserve for doing all of those things, for embracing the good in you."

"I was atoning for all the mistakes I made with my son, that doesn't mean I deserve anything," Regina said quietly, tilting her head to the side and looking out the window as if to end the conversation, but she had to turn back to Snow when she felt her move up on the bed and squeeze her hand in both of hers.

"Yes, it does," she said fiercely, her eyes so bright and determined that Regina couldn't look away. Thankfully, Henry chose that moment to open the door and walk back into the room, setting a to-go cup of tea from the hospital cafeteria on Regina's bedside table before taking his spot on the chair next to her.

"How are you?"

"Much better, now that you're here," she said, letting go of Snow's hand and smiling at her son.

"I was only gone for like, ten minutes, mom," he said in amusement.

"Well I missed you!" Regina replied as she cupped her son's cheek.

"So… care to fill us in on what happened?" Henry asked her after a few minutes of silence. Regina took a deep breath and nodded.

"I found out what's happening to the weather, and I think I know how to stop it, but I'm going to need help. Call Emma and Hook, have them come by so that we can discuss a plan," she said to Henry, and he sprang into action, getting out of his chair and grabbing his cell phone.

* * *

Once Roland and Robin got into her car, Ruby headed west, towards an area of the forest Robin had never been to before, way out in the opposite direction of where he'd found Regina. After a ten minute drive, they stopped by the side of the road and she led them a little ways into the trees, finding what she was looking for about five minutes into their walk.

"Here we go! Smell them," she told Roland, who bent down and took a whiff from one of the many bushes of fragrant white flowers that surrounded them. He smiled and looked up at Ruby.

"Do you like them?" she asked, and Roland nodded enthusiastically while he walked around the bushes, choosing the biggest blossoms and piling them up in the little basket Ruby had given him, the tassels on either side of his hat bouncing as he moved.

"I'm helping Robin Hood's son pick flowers for the Evil Queen… There's a sentence I never thought I'd say," Ruby said to Robin, smiling as she spoke.

"She's not evil!" Roland protested when he heard her words, and Ruby was stunned by his adamant tone and the stiff way he stood up in front of her.

"I know, it was just an expression, I'm sorry," Ruby said to him sincerely, and he seemed appeased by her apology, nodding once before turning back to the bushes and picking out some more flowers.

"He's very protective of her, isn't he?" she asked when he was out of earshot, and Robin smiled at his son.

"He cares for her a great deal, we both do," he replied.

"I can see that. I have to admit she's not my favorite person, but I also know that she's changed, and she saved us… she deserves our gratitude."

"She deserves so much more than that," Robin said sadly, but before Ruby could ask him what he meant, Roland came bouncing back, announcing he was ready to return to the hospital, so they walked out of the forest and back to Ruby's car.

"Thank you for doing this," Robin said when they were back on the road.

"No problem," Ruby replied.

The drive back seemed shorter than the drive to the flowerbed, and in no time, they were getting out of the car at the hospital door.

"It's almost lunch time so I'm going to go pick up some food for everyone. Any requests, Roland?" Ruby asked the boy.

"Chocolate milkshake, please!" he said excitedly, making her chuckle.

"You got it," she said before she drove away.

Once back in the waiting area, Robin spotted Snow and David standing off to the side with baby Neal. They looked worried.

"Is she alright?" Robin asked immediately.

"Yes, still a little shaken up, but she's okay," Snow said.

"Then why are you both so jumpy?"

"Apparently something else has come to Storybrooke."

"Did she tell you what happened?"

"Not yet, we're waiting on Emma and Killian to get here before we can hash out a plan, why don't you two go in? I know she'll love to see _you_," she replied, smiling down at Roland and his flowers. The boy started tugging on his father's hand.

"Come on, Papa! Let's go!"

They made their way down the hall, Roland carefully taking the flowers out of the basket and arranging them in his hand, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration, making Robin smile lovingly as he watched him. As all children his age, Roland was never too bothered with details, but when it came to Regina, Robin had noticed how much he strived to make everything extra special for her. It was like he needed to impress her. The boy really didn't have to try so hard, though, as Robin knew that Regina loved his son dearly. He could present the lady with a jar full of dirt and dead bugs and she would still keep it and proudly display it as if it were the most beautiful gift she'd ever received. Warmth flooded his chest as he remembered her doing just that back in the Enchanted Forest, when Roland showed up in the castle gardens with a sculpture made of mud.

"_It's a monkey! Like the one you made me with your magic, see?" he said, showing her his masterpiece._

"_It's wonderful, Roland! I love it!" she replied, not caring that her hands were now caked with mud as she took the lumpy monstrosity and held it for closer inspection, smiling widely, sincerely, the entire time. "But, why are you giving me a present? It's not my birthday," she added, curious to his intentions._

"_Because you're my friend! And because papa always says beautiful ladies should get presents," he said, sinking into a bow so low that Robin had to laugh, and for a moment he worried that his chuckle would alert them to his presence and she would put on that daunting royal mask again, that mask she used to push people away, the one that put an incredibly heavy weight on her shoulders that only Roland's presence seemed to lessen. Thankfully, they remained oblivious to his eavesdropping, and Regina then put the mud monkey down next to her, wiped her hands on her imposing black and purple gown, and picked up Roland, rubbing the tip of her nose against his several times in rapid succession, making him giggle._

"_Well thank you, my valiant knight," she told him, and his face lit up like the sunrise._

"_I'm your knight?!" he asked._

"_Of course you are!" she answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world._

That hideous monkey had remained in Regina's chambers ever since, right next to the small vase where she'd put the flowers Roland would bring her from the forest. Robin would catch a glimpse of it every now and then when he stopped by her rooms to relay a message, or when he'd wait by her door to escort her to council meetings, and he couldn't explain why it made him so happy to see the blasted thing sitting on her bedside table, but there was something in the action of her truly appreciating his son's efforts that made him tingle all over.

As they reached the room, they ran into Henry, who had an empty cup in his hand as he closed the door behind him quietly.

"Henry!" Roland called out cheerfully, bringing Robin out of his haze.

"Hey, Roland! How are you?" Henry asked, bending down to address the boy.

"I brought Regina flowers!" Roland replied, showing Henry the small bouquet in his hand.

"I'm sure she's going to love them! I'm going to get her some more tea, but I'll be back soon. You can go inside, she's awake," Henry said, smiling at Roland and giving Robin a nod as he left.

She was sitting up in the bed, staring out the window with a forlorn look on her face. She didn't hear anyone come in, but perked up when Roland's ecstatic voice reached her.

"Regina!" he said as he ran the rest of the way to her, Robin hanging back by the door to allow his son a moment alone with her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise, but she was smiling.

"Why are you talking like that?" Roland asked, frowning when he heard how weak and raspy her voice sounded.

"I'm a little sick, sweetheart," she replied, and Roland's eyes watered instantly.

"Is it bad?" he asked, lip quivering as he climbed on the bed awkwardly, flowers still in his hand.

"Nothing a hug from you can't fix. Now, come here," she said and he instantly curled into her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Robin watched them, his presence still unnoticed by her as he hid behind the entryway, and it was all so similar to the mud monkey memory he'd been daydreaming of that he couldn't help but smile.

When Roland pulled away from the hug, he knelt up on the bed so that he was level with her face, and then slowly rubbed his nose against hers from side to side, making Regina smile wider.

"I brought you flowers," he said, his voice losing its cheery quality even as he showed her the white blossoms he was holding. She took them from him and brought them close to her face, taking a deep breath and humming when the sweet scent reached her.

"They're beautiful."

"I didn't want your room to smell funny," he told her quietly, and she chuckled at his reasoning.

"They're perfect, thank you," she said, and Roland smiled back before he frowned again, the expression strange on his usually happy face.

"Does it hurt?" he asked quietly, his tiny fingers ghosting over the small wound on her head.

"A little," she replied, "but having you here has made me feel a million times better," she told him, and his eyes lit up immediately.

"Is it because I'm your knight?" he asked, though the toothy grin on his face made it obvious he already knew what she'd say.

"Of course! My knight in cozy armor," she joked, tugging softly at the tassels of his hat and poking the tip of his little nose with her finger, making the boy laugh before he hugged her again, and Regina let herself lie back down on the bed with him huddled up on top of her, her fingers removing his hat and playing with his hair, her cheek resting on the crown of his head while they talked about random, silly things.

"Come now, Roland, let her breathe for a bit," Robin's amused voice came from the door a few minutes later, and Regina jumped at the sound, her eyes finding him instantly.

Robin knelt on the floor to pick up the clothes that had been knocked out of the bed when Roland climbed it, placing them on the couch instead, his fingers lingering on the soft fabric. He then opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter a word, Henry came back in, carrying more tea for Regina.

"Thank you," she told him, setting the cup on the night table next to her bed.

"Roland, want to come with me? Ruby just got here and she brought us all milkshakes," Henry said when he sensed the tension between the outlaw and his mother, offering his hand to the little boy to help him down from the bed. Roland's eyes grew wide at the mention of the milkshakes, but he shook his head and refused to move from where he sat curled up against Regina.

"That sounds delicious, why don't you go have one?" Regina suggested, patting her hand down his hair as she tried to convince him.

"I don't want to leave you all alone," he said, pouting while he picked at the sleeve of the hospital gown she was wearing.

"She won't be alone, my boy. I'll stay," Robin told him. Roland turned to look at Regina.

"Grown-up things?" he asked her, wrinkling his nose in suspicion, and she laughed at his clever deduction before nodding at him.

"I'm afraid so. But I have an idea. Your father's never had a milkshake before, why don't you bring him one when you're done with yours?" she asked, and Roland seemed excited at the prospect of showing something new to Robin, so he nodded, jumping down from the bed and walking out of the room, followed by Henry, who said he'd tell the others to hang back for a minute and closed the door behind him.

Once they were alone, the silence was deafening. Regina didn't really know what to say, and Robin was bouncing in place, as if torn about what to do next. He watched her massage the spot where her IV had been, and somehow that snapped him into motion. He walked the rest of the way to her and grabbed her face in both of his hands, her eyes startled for a moment before he kissed her. At first, she was determined to resist it, but the desperation in his touch and the warmth of his breath as it washed over her broke her resolve, and she raised her head, pressing her lips hard against his. There was no dalliance, no romantic dance of their mouths as there usually was, just the force of their unmoving lips against each other's, as if the contact anchored them to this moment, both encased in a tiny bubble that allowed them to act on their impulses. Regina sobered up first, pulling her mouth away, but his hands refused to let go of her face, his eyes boring into hers.

"I thought I'd lost you forever," he whispered, his thumbs caressing her cheekbones.

"Robin—" she began, but he shook his head.

"I know, I shouldn't have kissed you, I'm sorry. I just couldn't… You were so pale and so cold, I didn't think I'd be able to feel you again," his voice turned hoarse as he spoke, finally letting go of her face and dropping his hands to the bed as he sat in front of her. Regina looked at him questioningly.

"What are you talking about?"

"When Emma and Henry told me you were missing, I just… I had to find you. We went to the woods together to look for you, Emma and I. Regina, you were unconscious on the floor, and you were freezing…" he trailed off as he let the back of his hand caress her cheek, and she closed her eyes, reveling in the contact for a second before she turned her head away. "You were just there… limp and barely breathing, your skin was so pale you looked like a ghost, and there was so much ice… I carried you out of there, terrified that you'd left me."

There were tears rolling down her cheeks as she heard him talk, but he made no mention of them, merely playing with a lock of her hair, loving the way the soft strands danced between his fingers, just like they had in his dream.

"I can't tell you how happy I am that you're alright," he finally said, dropping his hand back to the bed.

"Thanks to you, it seems," she whispered back with a sad smile, and another long silence stretched between them. Robin's bouncing leg rattled the bed as he anxiously looked her over, and Regina raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"I'm sorry, I… I was so scared and now you're here and yet I can't—"

"You can't what?" she asked, and he sighed in frustration, trying to get the words out properly.

"I don't want to hurt Marian. She's my wife, and I care for her, but… whenever I'm with her all I can think about is how much I miss you. Right this second, all I want to do is hold you in my arms and have you look at me like you did that day by the fireplace, when your heart was back inside you," he confessed, and her eyes went wide when she realized he'd noticed the change in her.

"Yes, I know you don't have your heart," he confirmed, "I don't think the others can see it yet, but I can, and I hate that this situation between us is what drove you to take it out again. Causing you pain is the last thing I want."

"Robin—"

"No, please listen. You could have died out there, and it hurt so much to think that I could lose you, that I had _already_ lost you because I simply let you walk away from me, I didn't fight for you."

"What's there to fight for? We'd only just begun seeing each other, it wasn't an epic whirlwind romance for the history books, Robin, it was just a few dates," she said, trying to sound casual.

"Don't _do_ that," he said through gritted teeth.

"Do what?"

"Don't belittle what we had in order to protect yourself."

"I'm not—" she began, but he cut her off.

"You removed your own heart, Regina. I know how much this is hurting you. It hurts me, too. Don't pass it off as some random fling, because we both know it wasn't, it never has been."

"Then what _do _you want me to do, Robin? I can't just sit around and pine for you. You have a wife who loves you, who loves her son, she wants you to be a family, I can't get in the way of that."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Then what is it that you want from me?" she asked in frustration, her voice breaking as she fought back the tears that had built in her eyes again.

"Time. Give me time to figure this all out. I know it's not fair of me to ask, and I would never want to put you in a position where you had to compromise your life for me, but please, don't write us off completely, give me time."

"I don't understand… why do you even want to figure anything out? I killed your wife, Robin. Even if Emma hadn't rescued her from my dungeons and you and I were still together, I'd still be the one who murdered the person you loved most, you should hate me for that, I know I— what is it?" she stopped mid-sentence when she saw the look on his face. Robin was staring at her, eyes wide in shock.

"You murdered her?" he asked, and Regina gaped at him.

"You didn't know…" she breathed out in realization.

"I… I have to go," he said, getting up from the bed and walking out of the room without another word. Regina frowned, she was sure Emma or Marian herself had told him where she'd been found, but apparently she was wrong and had just confessed to her soulmate that she'd been the one to end the life of the woman he loved. It seemed fate was not yet done playing nasty tricks on her. The effort to contain her tears made her tremble, and she threw the covers off and slowly got up from the bed, walking to the bathroom with her clothes, hoping that a shower and getting rid of the stupid hospital gown would at least make her feel more like herself before she had to deal with the others.

Half an hour and many tears later, she was back in the bed in her silk pajamas and her robe, covers drawn up to her waist as Hook, Henry, Emma, and David filed into the room.

"Regina, are you okay?" Snow asked, noticing the queen's puffy, red eyes as she walked in after the others, baby Neal in her arms.

"I'm fine," she said, steeling herself, "shall we get started?"

* * *

_**A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.**_

_**I know I'm SUPER late with the update, but GISHWHES (Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen) took over and deprived me of sleep, proper meals and life in general. I'm happy to announce that my team and I did amazingly well, though! We are all still exhausted from all the crazy things we had to do to get those items on the list completed but it was a fantastic week spreading kindness and hilarity. We even managed to have one of our team members attend the meet-up with Misha Collins to break 3 Guinness records! I'll be posting some pics and videos of all that on my Tumblr in case any of you are interested.**_

_**Now, I made this chapter a little longer as an apology, and I'll be uploading a new one-shot to the Pixie Dust Never Lies compilation later today, I hope that's enough to gain your forgiveness. Please love me and leave me a review?**_

_**Also, a quick fic rec: if you're not reading Baker's Dozen by SomewhereApart over on AO3, you need to remedy that RIGHT NOW. It is a beautiful, sexy, amazing AU set in NYC where Regina is a baker and Robin an English professor and ugh, so well-written and cute and brilliant and everyone needs it in their lives.**_

_**-B.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Not mine_**

* * *

**Chapter 9  
**

* * *

Robin burst through the door of his house looking for Marian, Roland at his heels.

"Papa! Why did you bring me back?! You didn't try your milkshake and I wanted to stay with Regina!" he complained, and the exasperated tone in which Robin sent the boy to his room without answering his questions told Marian something was very wrong.

"Robin, what is it?" she asked.

"Where did Emma find you?" he asked in turn.

"What are you—" she began, but Robin cut her off.

"Don't play dumb with me, Marian. When Emma said she'd brought you back because you would've died otherwise, I assumed she'd taken you right before our failed job claimed your life and the magic from the portal had healed your wounds, but Regina just told me Emma rescued you from her dungeons, I'd like to know how that's possible considering we were never there."

"Calm down, please," she said.

"No, I will not calm down. I want the truth, Marian. How did you end up in that castle? We were never even near it when you were with us, and then you perished."

"I'll tell you everything you wish to know, just…. please, lower your voice, you're scaring Roland," Robin looked to the hallway that led to his son's room and saw him standing there, lip quivering as he watched.

"Roland, I'm sorry. Let me speak with your mother, and I'll come find you when we're done?"

"Will you take me back to see Regina?" he asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea, but we can discuss it later, just let me talk to your mother first, alright?" Robin tried again, though his voice sounded impatient, and Roland finally turned away, going into his room and shutting the door a little too forcefully. Robin knew he'd have to grovel to his son later, but for now, there were more pressing matters at hand. He sat on the couch and turned to Marian.

"So?" he asked, his eyes unwavering as they looked into hers.

"That day, when we tried to intercept Prince John's carriage, what do you remember?" she asked timidly as she sat down in the armchair in front of him.

"I remember you telling me we should abandon the mission, that you didn't want to go, but I insisted. I remember that the carriage had guards hidden inside it instead of the gold that our informant had told us about, and one of those guards put two arrows straight through your stomach, I remember you bleeding out on the floor and I had to fight three guards to get to you, but I did, I reached you, and then you told me to leave, you made me promise I'd take good care of our son, you told me you'd always love me, and then you just closed your eyes and lay there. I remember Little John trying to drag me away so that I wouldn't get caught. The guards wanted _me, _and seeing you die, knowing it was my fault… I just didn't care about anything anymore, but John reminded me that Roland was waiting and that I had just made you a promise. When we got back to Sherwood, there were guards at our hideout, so I took our baby boy and I ran. I left your body there where it had fallen, and for years afterward, not a day went by that I didn't hate myself for that. For all of it."

"I'm so sorry," she said, her eyes shining with tears.

"I want to know what really happened," he told her, and the resounding harshness of his voice scared Marian for a second before she nodded, defeated.

"It's… complicated," she began.

"I'm listening," he said, his voice cold.

"I _was _hit, and the pain… I can still feel it sometimes, it was so excruciating. I almost _did _die, but…"

"Yes?"

"After you left, the Sheriff of Nottingham found me in the forest. He had magic of some sort, he said he'd gotten it from the Dark One, made a deal with him. Don't ask me what he promised him in return, he never told me, but he took me to a cottage in the woods and healed the worst part of my wounds with the magic, and then he took care of me. He said he was still in love with me, that he was healing me so that we could be together. He called me his treasure and tied me up whenever he left the cottage.

"As soon as I had my strength back, I hit him in the head with a rock and I ran. A family in the forest took me in, and—"

"A family in the forest? What about your own family? The family that was mourning you?"

"I knew you'd have gone into hiding with Roland, and I thought it was best if it stayed that way. Prince John's men were still looking for you and I didn't want you to get caught, so I let you think I was dead, I'm so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing, I wanted to protect you," her voice was trembling, pleading him to understand, but Robin's anger was bubbling as he addressed her.

"So you made a decision that affected both our lives, our _son's_ life, without even taking into account what I would have wanted," he spat.

"When did _you _consider what I wanted, Robin?" she fired back, "I told you I didn't want to be part of that heist! I told you we had to stay away, that the route the carriage was on went straight through the queen's forest and that was _not_ a route prince John would take. I told you it was a trap, I told you that something would go wrong, and you didn't listen! I needed time to breathe, to try to understand why your calling to help people you didn't even know was stronger than your love for me and Roland," she said and Robin's face grew hard, his eyes stony as he continued watching her.

"_Nothing_ was stronger than my love for you and Roland, Marian, nothing! You always said that my devotion to the people of Sherwood was what made you fall in love with me, and now you're using it against me?!"

"No! I love that you care for them, Robin, I do. But we'd just had a baby! I didn't want to lose you when we had a child to raise. You were putting your life at risk over something we knew was a trap, all because you had to get that gold! It was like you were putting yourself in harm's way on purpose and I hated it."

"Why do you think I've been torturing myself for so long?! I knew you were right, I knew I should have listened, and because I didn't, you died in my arms, or at least I believed you did. I was a ghost of a man, Marian, pining after you for _years_, trying to find a way to deal with the pain it caused me to know that you were gone and that it was because of my stubbornness, so don't you dare pretend to school me in the error of my ways."

"I'm sorry that I let you think the worst, but I knew if I sent word to you that I was alive, you'd come looking for me and I… I couldn't bear the thought of you getting caught by the Prince's guard and–"

"What happened after?" he cut in, and Marian flinched at his tone, but answered his question.

"When I was sure that the Sheriff wasn't following me, I decided to search for you, I wanted to go back to my family," she touched his hand as she said it, hoping for comfort, but he withdrew it from her reach, crossing his arms against his chest. Marian took a deep breath and went on with her story.

"The family that gave me shelter in their cottage, they were also harboring Princess Snow. She was on the run, she told me all about the Evil Queen's rampage against her and then one night she mentioned that once she had enough gold, she would go down to the docks to seek passage on a ship and escape to another realm. I told her about a carriage I had seen on the main road the day before and she said she'd find it and see if there was any treasure she could steal. To thank me for the information, she gave me a bracelet she was wearing.

"Some guards found me in the forest a couple of days later and took me to the palace, arrested on accounts of wandering around the queen's private grounds without permission. When the Evil Queen saw me, she recognized the bracelet, so she threw me in the dungeons and tried to get me to tell her where the princess had run off to. She tried to find out more about me as well, I suspect it was to see if there was a weakness in me that she could take advantage of, but I never told her about you or Roland, I didn't even tell her my real name for fear she would find you, I would've died before I let her get her hands on you."

"How long were you her prisoner?" Robin asked after his wife finished her tale, his tone betraying nothing of what he was feeling.

"I had only been there for a day before Emma showed up."

"And how long were you at this cottage in the forest?" he asked briskly, and Marian hesitated.

"_How long, _Marian?"

"Two months," she replied.

"Two months…" Robin echoed in a whisper, his elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped in front of him as he let his head drop down on top of them. When he looked up at her, his eyes were bloodshot and wet, trying to control himself as he addressed her.

"You decided to let me go on believing I'd lost you, that I'd never see you again… for two whole months," he didn't sound angry anymore, just defeated, disappointed, as if he'd given up.

"Robin, I love you. Every single day all I did was think of you, of our baby, I wanted so badly to get back to you both. If there was one thing in my life that I could take back..." she drifted off for a few seconds, only to finish her sentence with "I'm so sorry."

She was sobbing now, and Robin couldn't find it in himself to be angry at her. He did, however, come to a chilling confirmation.

"If Emma hadn't saved you…" he trailed off.

"The queen would have killed me," Marian finished for him.

"But that's impossible, she wouldn't do that," he said, not wanting to believe it.

"Maybe the Regina you know wouldn't, but this was the Evil Queen in her prime," his wife replied, looking down at her hands as she remembered her time in the castle.

"She called me a silly girl," she said with an empty laugh, "she kept telling me my sacrifice would be useless, that she'd find Snow anyway. She even said she was debating whether to keep me alive until she captured the princess, just so I could watch her die before she killed me. 'That way you can die knowing you did absolutely nothing of worth,' she told me. She's horrible," she stuttered, trying to keep the sobs down so that she could continue talking, but it was impossible, the tears had taken over as she slumped on the floor at his feet, and Robin instantly knelt down in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly.

"I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you," he said, his voice breaking.

"I'm sorry I didn't come back right away," she sobbed against his shoulder.

"It's all my fault, we should have stayed away from that carriage, none of this would've happened if not for me, I'm so sorry, my love," he said against her hair, the term of endearment automatically leaving his lips even though it didn't feel altogether right. She cried and cried as he held her, both of them apologizing to each other over and over again.

"So, what are we going to do?" Marian asked once her tears had subsided, her head against his chest as he ran his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"The queen. I know you lo— have feelings for her," she said, not wanting to speak the name of those feelings out loud, "what's going to happen now?"

"I have no idea," Robin confessed.

"We can't be a family if her shadow is hanging over us all the time, Robin."

"Regardless of what she did in the past, she did save us, and Roland loves her, I can't take that away from him so suddenly," he said, though in all honesty, they were nothing but excuses, ways to stall so that he didn't have to promise his wife he'd never see Regina again, because that was one promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

"Maybe if we talk to him, explain a little of what happened, he'll understand?" Marian suggested, and Robin nodded against the top of her head.

"Maybe," he conceded, gently moving her off him as he stood and walked to his son's bedroom.

He was sitting by the window, crying silently as he looked out at the trees that lined the park.

"Roland?" Robin said gently, but the boy didn't acknowledge him, merely sniffling as he rubbed his nose and wiped the tears away with his arm, blinking repeatedly.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, son, please forgive me. I won't ever act that way again," Robin vowed, kneeling down in front of him and taking his hand. Roland nodded, crawling into his father's lap and hugging him. Robin shifted so they could sit more comfortably in the window seat and breathed deeply, letting his son's affection calm his inner turmoil before he looked down at him.

"Son, we have to talk about Regina," he finally said, already dreading the conversation.

"Is she okay?" Roland pouted, and Robin nodded, easing his fears.

"She's fine, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to see her anymore."

"Why?" tears covered the boy's face again, and it killed Robin to watch them fall.

"Before you met her, Regina was a very awful witch in the Enchanted Forest, and she did many terrible things. A lot of people -including your mother- are scared of her," Robin said, and Roland nodded knowingly.

"Because she was the bad queen," he said simply, and Robin was startled for a moment.

"You… how did you know?" he asked in surprise.

"Regina told me."

"She told you?"

"Uh huh," he nodded, launching into an excited jumble of words to tell his story, "you were hunting with Little John and I was playing in the castle and I found Regina in the library and I wanted to help her because she was crying. I told her to play with me but she didn't want to because she was sad."

"Why was she sad?" Robin asked, engrossed in his son's rambling.

"She said it was because she had been really bad before and she was being pu… puns…" he frowned, struggling with the word, but Robin finished it for him.

"Punished?"

"Yes, punnshed!" Roland nodded eagerly, not realizing his mispronunciation, "she said she was a bad queen and that she hurt people with her magic but she was sorry."

"And what did you say?"

"I said it's okay," his son replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You did?" Robin asked, baffled by how simple it had been for his son to clear Regina of her confessed transgressions. Roland nodded in reply, shrugging.

"She said she was sorry."

"And you think that makes it okay, just like that?" Robin asked, no accusation in his tone, merely curiosity. Roland gave his father a strange look, as if he wasn't sure why Robin couldn't see his logic.

"Well yeah, if she's sorry that means she doesn't want to be bad anymore, right? And she saved me and she doesn't use her magic for bad things now. That means she's good."

"Leave it to you to pave the Evil Queen's path of redemption," Robin said in utter disbelief, shaking his head with an amused grin, but Roland glared at his father.

"Don't call her that, _she's not evil_!" he said vehemently, and Robin remembered the way his son had fiercely defended Regina when Ruby used the same adjective earlier.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Robin said and hugged his son tightly.

"Papa, you're squeezing me," Roland wheezed from under him after a minute or two, and Robin let him go with a chuckle.

"Why were you and mama yelling?"

"Nothing important," Robin said.

"Is mama sad because I went to see Regina?" Roland asked, guilt clear on his face.

"No! Not at all, son, we just had some things to talk about."

"Grown-up things?" his son asked.

"Yes, you could say that."

"I don't like those, they always make people sad," he said, looking up at his father.

"When did you become so clever?" Robin asked him, a look of pure awe on his face.

"Little John says I'm smarter than you," Roland laughed.

"He's right," his father agreed, playfully digging his fingers into Roland's side to tickle him, and the boy giggled.

"Papa, stop!" he shouted between laughs as Robin carried him to the bed and tickled him without mercy, his rumbling laughter echoing in the room as it joined Roland's boyish squeals. When he stopped, they were both breathless on the bed, huge smiles on their faces.

"So, can we go see Regina again?" Roland asked then, not looking into his father's eyes and choosing instead to fiddle with the corner of his pillowcase. Robin turned his head to the side, looking at his son and sighing in defeat.

"Get your things, I'll take you back to the hospital."

* * *

"I thought we agreed you'd talk to him about this," Marian hissed as Robin met her in the living room and told her of his plans. Roland remained in his room, picking out a storybook to take with him to the hospital.

"I did, he doesn't care that she used to be evil. She's not that person anymore, Marian, and he knows that. And he knows she got hurt trying to protect this town. He just wants to be with her."

"He's a child, he'll understand when he's old enough."

"On the contrary, I believe he understands better than we do. As much as what she did to you pains me, it's not our place to judge Regina based on her past."

"Her 'past' was _my _present until two weeks ago, Robin! You can't expect me to approve of this!"

"I don't, but I can't keep him from her, I won't do that to them, not today."

"What about tomorrow? What about when she goes home and decides to give into her anger again? She has plenty of reasons to go back to her old ways, do you really think she'll be able to avoid it? It's who she _is, _Robin, you can't change that, no matter how much you tell yourself that you have," her words cut deep into his soul, making him feel as though everything that had transpired between him and Regina was worthless.

"This isn't about me or her, Marian," he forced himself to say, "this is about _our son_ and what makes him happy. Right now, he wants to see her, he wants to make sure she's alright, and he deserves as much, so I will take him to see her, and then when she's recovered, you and I can set some boundaries together and figure out a way to make Roland understand. For now, though, please just let me take him to her," he finished, and Marian huffed but relented, nodding her head at him with disdain as she watched her son scamper out of his room with three different books in his hands, announcing he was ready to go. She kissed him on the top of his head, resisting the urge to scowl at his excited rambling about getting Regina to read him a story.

"What do you want for dinner?" she asked him, making her voice as cheery as possible.

"Hot dogs!" he instantly replied, and Marian looked at him scandalized.

"We do not eat dogs, Roland!" she exclaimed and frowned when her son started giggling.

"No, mama, they're not _real_ dogs! Papa, tell her!" he replied, looking at Robin.

"It's a culinary invention of this realm, we'll pick some up at Granny's on the way back," he told her, and she nodded.

"I guess I'll work on dessert, then," she said, waving to Roland as he walked out the door, pulling his father along by the sleeve of his jacket. Robin threw his wife an apologetic look and then closed the door behind him.

* * *

_**A/N: Welp, there you have it.**_

_**Just to clarify, in this story, Marian spent two months in hiding after her supposed death (which plays into the canon of when she's in the castle dungeons and tells Emma that her family probably already thinks she's dead), and she would definitely have been executed by Regina, had Emma not rescued her when she messed with time. I thought making it so that Regina wouldn't have killed her would not have worked out because let's face it, Evil Queen Regina was ruthless, so OF COURSE Marian would've died at her hands. That said, I did promise that this story would have a happy ending for our beloved outlaw and his queen, so don't despair!**_

_**I'm so SO grateful to all of you for reading and reviewing and following this story that I'm going to try (key word being TRY) to update this story more than once a week. I have most of the skeleton for the plot planned out by now so I think I can squeeze in one more update per week, but I still have prompts to fulfill for the Pixie Dust compilation so I can't promise anything.**_

_**Have a lovely weekend, everyone!**_

_**-B.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**I don't own these characters, I only wish I did**_

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**Chapter 10  
**

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"Let me get this straight, there's an ice sorceress with the power to freeze us all, just wondering around the forest?" David asked after Regina had told her tale.

"No, _your daughter _brought an ice sorceress with her through the time portal and now she's wondering around the forest," Regina snapped at him, throwing a dirty look in Emma's direction.

"Is she really a threat?" Snow intervened when Emma opened her mouth to reply.

"I don't know, she doesn't seem the villain type. I think she's just a little… unstable," Regina said after a moment, thinking back to her meeting with Elsa.

"She tried to kill you, sounds like a villain to me," Emma said.

_You ruined my life, yet people consider you a hero,_ Regina thought, but kept the venomous thought to herself, choosing to address Snow and David instead.

"She was cast out by her people, lost her sister and can't control her powers. I think she's just scared."

"How do we approach her without having her lash out, then?" Killian asked.

"I did manage to have a conversation with her, did I not?" Regina fired at him.

"Aye, and she shot you with ice for it. Great social skills there, your majesty," he replied.

"Okay so we try to talk to her before we do anything else. Now, is there a way to stop her in case she refuses to see reason?" Emma asked Regina, who was staring daggers at the pirate.

"She said she had been trapped in a bottle."

"Like a genie?" David asked.

"Not exactly, genies can be freed, and they can come out of the bottle when their masters are in need of them. Elsa wasn't able to do any of those things."

"So we find the bottle, bring it with us when we talk to her and trap her again if she doesn't cooperate. Simple enough," Emma said, and Regina nodded.

"Since this was _your _fault, I'd say you and the handless wonder should go find it, it's probably somewhere in that barn where the portal was. I'll go to Elsa," she said, attempting to get up, but Henry stopped her.

"Mom, you're still weak, you can't leave now."

"I'm fine, Henry," she said kindly, smiling a little at her son's concern.

"No you're not, doctor Whale said you have to stay until tomorrow, you can't go."

"The lad's right, you need your strength if you're going up against the ice queen," Killian said, putting his hand on Henry's shoulder.

"We'll take care of it. Robin was with me in the woods when we found you, I'll ask him to help me track Elsa," Emma offered, but her attempt at reassurance only made Regina's nostrils flare.

"No. Robin will not be part of this," she said, and it sounded a lot like an order.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so!" Regina replied angrily.

"Now is not the time to hold grudges against former lovers, your majesty," Killian began, "if this sorceress is as powerful as you say, we'll need all the help we can get. Robin—"

"Could die if he joins us, and I am not about to leave his child fatherless. We are not putting Robin in harm's way, understood?" Regina asked the pirate, and he nodded when Emma elbowed him in the ribs.

"So Roland's dad remains safe, but it's okay for both my moms to put themselves in danger?" Henry interrupted, and they could all sense the hint of anger in his tone.

"Honey, I have magic," she explained, "Emma's is coming back little by little, we'll be fine. Robin doesn't have powers, and Roland needs him, please understand," she said, her voice breaking when he grasped her hand in his and looked into her eyes.

"You almost died, mom. I can't lose you, not when we've only just found each other again," he said, looking down and playing with their joined hands.

"You won't lose me, Henry, not ever again, but I have to do this," she told him, and after a few seconds of heavy breaths and their hands clutching each other tightly, he nodded in understanding. Regina turned to Snow.

"I need you to look after Henry," she said, wrapping her arm around her son and squeezing him into her side for a hug as the princess nodded. Regina then looked at David.

"You have to get everyone in town to the warmest building you can find, I'll work on a spell to ward off the ice in case Elsa loses control again and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over there can't find the bottle," she told him, and he frowned at the way the queen mocked his daughter, but nodded all the same, agreeing with her plan.

"Shouldn't we have Gold around for this?" Emma interjected.

"If you want to interrupt his honeymoon with Belle and then wait who knows how long for him to get here, then by all means go ahead. I'd rather take action now instead of waiting for your newest mistake to doom us all," Regina snapped, standing up from the bed and holding Henry's hand to steady herself when the rapid motion made her dizzy.

"Okay, let's just take a deep breath and try to calm down. Regina, you should rest so you can be ready for tomorrow, we'll get started on everything, for now just stay here and get some sleep," Snow said, ever the voice of reason.

"I've had enough sleep," Regina replied, but Henry squeezed her hand.

"Mom, I won't stop you from going after Elsa if that's what needs to be done, but please, don't go just yet. It's only one more night and I'll feel a lot better knowing you were at least strong enough to fight the person who did this to you," Henry tried.

"Sweetheart, she won't harm me. I don't even think she meant to attack me, she was just frightened."

"I still don't want you going out there until we're sure you're okay."

"An extra day in a hospital bed won't make much of a difference, Henry. Besides, I feel perfectly fine," she said, though she sounded a little winded, her voice still somewhat raspy.

"Regina, you're staying, end of discussion," Snow said, turning around and leaving the queen to call out after her.

"You do know I can just use my magic and get away, right?"

"Yes, but you won't," Snow said.

"What makes you so sure?" Regina asked haughtily.

"Because you have a visitor," Snow replied, jerking her head in the direction of the door, where Roland stood with books in his hands and a smile on his face.

"I'm back!" he shouted as he ran to her, and with some effort, she lifted him in her arms, rubbing her nose against his while Henry watched with amusement from where he stood next to her. Everyone took the boy's entrance as their cue to leave the room, until it was just Regina, Henry and Roland.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," she whispered, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the boy, who giggled in her embrace.

"Papa brought me back. He had to talk about grown-up things with mama, that's why we left, but I told him to bring me back because you're not bad anymore and I brought these so you can read me a story!" he babbled eagerly, wrestling the books out of where they had been squashed between his body and Regina's when she lifted him.

"You want me to read you a story?" she asked. It was the only thing she could say, too stunned by the other things he'd rambled about to delve too deep into them.

"Yeah! Henry likes stories too, right Henry?" he asked the older boy, who nodded and then looked up at his mother, relieved that she seemed to be choosing to stay now that Roland was here.

"I guess I can read you a story or two," she finally relented, getting back on the bed and scooting to the side so that Roland could sit next to her, Henry taking his place in the chair beside her as she asked Roland to pick a book.

"These are all good but I like this one the best because it's about papa! It has a picture of him, see?!" he excitedly pointed to the book cover, which showed the dark silhouette of a tall archer, big golden letters above it read _'The Adventures of Robin Hood and his Merry Men,'_ and Regina had to smirk at him, even as the dull ache in her chest gained strength at the sight of the man's name.

"Where did you get this?" she asked him as she opened it.

"Tinkiebell got it for me!" he supplied, burrowing further into her side as he got ready to hear the story.

"Of course she did," Regina said, shaking her head before she began to read.

Robin stood in the doorway, and she could sense his eyes on her, but she avoided them, focusing on the book even though she couldn't really register the words she was reading out loud, her entire body tingling with the need to look at him, to confirm whether or not he had finally understood what kind of horrible creature she was and began hating her.

It wasn't until she had reached the end of the first story in the book that she looked up, focusing on his face instantly. Surprisingly, the anger she was expecting to see wasn't there, nor was the disgust or the utter disappointment she was used to seeing in people who knew her for what she was. Instead, his eyes were worried, almost tender as he looked at her, and she saw the way his hand flexed for a second, as if he wanted to reach out and touch her, but he refrained, merely walking inside the room and sitting on the couch without saying a word, lest he interrupt her as Roland turned the page and urged her to begin reading the second story.

"May I speak with Regina alone, please?" Robin asked the boys when the second tale was over, and Henry nodded, albeit suspiciously. Roland, however, was harder to convince.

"But papa, I want to hear more stories!"

"You've had her to yourself for an hour, think you can share her with me for a few minutes?" Robin asked, winking at his son, and Regina couldn't help the warmth that spread through her for a split second when he said those words. Roland's movements and giggles broke through her haze, and she saw that Robin was tickling his son in the stomach, trying to get him to agree.

"Okay, okay, I'll share!" he finally relented as Robin picked him up and turned him upside down over his shoulder, his little legs kicking as he continued to laugh. Finally, Robin put the boy down and watched him leave the room with Henry, talking excitedly about what they'd just read. Regina merely sat there, looking down at her hands while he paced around the bed.

"The people in this realm have very wild imaginations," Robin said as a conversation starter, sitting down in Henry's recently vacated chair next to her and pointing to the book that still lay open in her lap. She closed it and looked up at him.

"What are you doing here, Robin?" she asked, never one to beat around the bush.

"I wanted to apologize… for leaving so suddenly," he said.

"There's nothing to apologize for, I murdered your wife," she noticed the way he cringed at her choice of words, "I'm surprised you didn't attempt your revenge right away."

"I'm not seeking revenge," Robin told her.

"Please," she huffed, "of course you are. It's the instinctive thing to do. I should know, I based my entire life around it after Snow got Daniel killed," she said, her voice tight.

"And how did that work out for you, your majesty?" he sneered, suddenly angry at her for behaving like this.

"You forget yourself, thief!" she snapped, slipping easily into her Evil Queen persona. It was the only way she knew to protect herself, by lashing out and refusing to look weak to others.

"Don't bother with that, Regina. I'm not scared of you," he said, his voice losing its bite when he noticed the gloomy look in her eyes.

"If you're here to berate me, you might as well get it over with, though I assure you, nothing you say will even come close to what I've said to myself over and over again since I found out I ruined your life," she said, sounding defeated.

"I came here to say that I'm sorry I hurt you. You mean so much to me, Regina, I wish it wasn't so complicated, but I can't ignore what happened… what _would've_ happened if Emma hadn't…" he paused, choosing his next words carefully, "once you're better, I know Marian will do whatever she can to stop Roland from spending time with you, so things will change between us once again, and I can't tell you how much that pains me, but this is the way it has to be."

"I told you already, you don't have to explain yourself to me," she said, her voice stoic even though her very soul was screaming with despair at the thought of being kept away from Roland. "But… can I ask one question?" she asked after a few deep breaths.

"Anything," Robin assured her.

"How is it that you never knew I killed her? I made official announcements whenever I had an accomplice of Snow's executed, you would have seen her name on the royal decree."

"Marian said she never gave you her real name. I suppose if you _had_ killed her, whatever false name she gave you is the one you would have used in your announcement. And as it turns out, her encounter with you happened after I lost her. I had already run away with Roland by then, having thought Marian dead months before you captured her."

"How is that even possible?"

"I thought she'd died, but someone saved her with magic, and instead of finding me she, uh… she fled. It's a long story."

"She left you?" Regina whispered, unable to understand.

"Not exactly, though it feels that way. We had some troubles right before she…" he didn't finish his sentence, adding instead "I can't blame her for needing time to sort things out," Robin said, shrugging.

"Well, it doesn't erase the fact that I still would've been the one to take her from you, and I'm sorry for that," Regina said, and she meant it.

Robin couldn't hold it in any longer, the impulse to touch her was too great. His hand stretched out on the bed in front of her, the tip of his finger gently running up and down the back of her hand. It wasn't nearly enough, but he didn't trust himself to hold her without succumbing to the need to kiss her sadness away and forget everything that was making this situation so complicated. He never thought he'd feel such sorrow as he did now, having her so close to him and being unable to cradle her in his arms and feel her gasp when he pressed his lips against hers.

"I'm sorry, too," he whispered, trying to keep the atmosphere as serene as possible so that she wouldn't move her hand away from his reach, but he needn't have bothered. Regina knew. She knew this was the last time she'd feel his touch, and she was going to allow herself this last moment to enjoy it, because nothing else would ever feel as wonderful.

Roland returned with Henry a few moments later, his eyebrows knit together when he saw that Regina was surreptitiously wiping tears away from her face, while Robin stared out the window, his back to them.

"Regina?" he asked softly, and she took a moment to blink away the moisture in her eyes before she addressed him.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Why are you crying?"

"Nothing important, don't worry," she said, smiling at him.

"But I'm your knight, I have to protect you and make you happy when you're sad," he said simply, pouting as he looked up at her with those big brown eyes that never failed to melt her. Robin still had his back to them, but winced at his son's words. He had moved away from her when the boys came in, wanting to allow her time to compose herself because he knew she hated looking weak to others, especially to her son, but he could hear her sniffling as she tried to control herself and his soul ached to comfort her, as he knew full well he was the reason she was so miserable, the reason she had no heart.

"I'll be alright," she told Roland, smiling tearfully at him as he climbed up on the bed again, and Robin turned around just in time to see his son rub his nose against Regina's in the gesture that had become so inherently _theirs._ Roland's tiny arms wrapped around her neck tightly, his face hidden in her hair.

"I love you," he said in a loud whisper against her ear, and Robin felt his heart clench when Regina had to stretch out her hand and grasp Henry's, needing his support as she continued blinking back tears. It was the first time Roland had said that to her, and it only served to intensify the pain she felt at the idea of not having him in her life anymore.

"I love you too, Roland," she said hoarsely, and Henry smiled proudly at his mother, threading his fingers tightly through hers to tether her, to show her it would be okay.

The words didn't come from the Locksley she had expected to hear them from, but they were welcome all the same. The innocence with which he'd said it, as if it was all she needed to feel better, made her smile tearfully as she hugged him. Because no matter what had happened between her and Robin, this little boy had wormed his way into her soul, and there was no turning back on that.

* * *

_**A/N: *pats your heads* there, there. That was a depressing update, I know. I'll give you loads of happy times later on, I promise.**_

_**I'll publish the next chapter in the next two days or so, so stay tuned!**_

_**-B.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Sadly, they're still not mine**_

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**Chapter 11**

* * *

She fell asleep in the middle of their fourth story. Roland giggled softly and planted a small kiss on the side of her head, whispering "good night," before he let Henry help him down from the bed, both of them sharing a quiet fist bump when they managed to leave the room without waking her. Robin was in the waiting room, sitting uncomfortably in a chair and looking down at his hands. He looked exhausted and sad, and the rough talking-to Henry had planned on giving him became a plea instead as he spoke.

"You can't keep hurting her like this," he said once Roland was distracted with some coloring books on the opposite side of the room.

"I only told her—" he began, but Henry shook his head, cutting him off as his anger returned.

"I don't want to know what you told her, all I want is for you to stop making her cry," the boy replied harshly, and Robin nodded in understanding.

"If I could take back everything I've done that has caused her pain, I would do so in a heartbeat. Please believe that," Robin said, and Henry sighed, his anger dissipating as he took a seat next to him.

"I know you don't _mean _to hurt her, but she misses you and she's sad all the time and then you show up and say things to her that only make the whole thing worse. She deserves better than that, especially from you," Henry said, and Robin marveled at how mature the boy had become in such a short time, defending his mother from the sadness he was causing her.

"I'm so sorry," he told him, and his voice sounded hoarse and broken. They both looked at Roland then, noticing he had settled on a picture in one of the coloring books and was working on it with apt concentration.

"What are you coloring, son?" Robin asked to change the subject.

"It's me and Henry and Regina! See?" he said as he lifted the book awkwardly in his hands and showed them the picture. It was a mother lying in the middle of a bed with two boys cuddled next to her, one on each side, all three looking at a book in her hand.

"Indeed, it is," Robin acquiesced, standing up and walking over to his son, watching him add color to the simple silhouettes the book page had provided and smiling when Roland asked him to help him write their names over each figure.

"Alright, time to go, your mother's waiting," Robin finally said when the boy was done.

"But I want to give this to Regina!" his son protested.

"She'll sleep for a while, Roland, but I can give it to her when she wakes up," Henry offered, helping Roland rip the page from the book without damaging it and rolling it up in his hands to protect it.

x-x-x-x

Later that night, after he and Roland had introduced Marian to hot dogs and French fries, Robin received an unexpected visit.

"What happened?! Is she alright?!" he instantly asked when he opened his door and saw Hook and Emma standing on the other side.

"She's fine, mate, calm down," the pirate replied.

"Then what is it?" Robin asked.

"I figured someone should fill you in on what's happening," Emma said as they stood on the steps by the door, waiting for Robin to join them. Once he did, Killian told him all about Regina's encounter with Elsa and what they were planning to do to stop her from freezing Storybrooke.

"Why did I not know about this?!" Robin asked him exasperatedly.

"Regina didn't want to involve you," Emma replied.

"So why are you two telling me, then?"

"Because, while we understand that the queen has her reasons, we don't agree with her keeping you in the dark, not about this," Killian chimed in.

"She's so stubborn. She just _has_ to push me away, doesn't she?!" Robin fumed.

"You think _that's_ why she's doing it?" Emma asked him.

"I understand that she's hurt and doesn't want us to spend time together out of respect for Marian, but this is the sort of thing you tell a man!" he continued.

"Are you sure that's all there is to it, mate?" Killian echoed Emma's question.

"Well, what else could there be?" Robin asked, and Killian rolled his eyes, banging his hand against his forehead in frustration.

"You have got to be kidding me. Can you really not see that she's doing this to protect you?" Emma's words gave Robin pause in his tirade.

"What are you saying?" he asked, and Emma made an exasperated noise.

"You talk to him, I'll punch him if I stay here," she said to the pirate as she shook her head and stalked off, walking to her car and leaving them staring after her on the steps, Killian chuckling at her reaction before turning to the archer.

"Look at it from Regina's point of view. Aside from Rumplestilskin, she's the most powerful being here, and she almost died. Do you really think she'd want the man she loves to risk his life going against this ice sorceress?" he asked him, and Robin frowned.

"That doesn't mean she's allowed to exclude me from— wait… the man she _what_?"

"You really are thick, aren't you, mate?" Killian asked in amusement.

"No, that can't be right. I mean, it's obvious that we had feelings for each other, but we were only just starting to…" Robin trailed off, gasping as he remembered something.

"_Tinkerbell told me it was possible… that I could love again."_

No, it couldn't be.

"_She led me to this tavern, to a man who she said I was destined to be with. I never saw his face, but… I did see his tattoo."_

Reality came crashing down on him in that split second of clarity. Of course she loved him. She'd never actually said the words, but she'd shown him, time and again. Her touch, her smiles, the way she kissed him, the way she'd let him in and told him her darkest secrets, all of those things were proof that she felt something for him, he knew that, but he had never expected it to be love, not this soon.

"I've been an idiot, haven't I?" Robin asked Killian.

"That depends, do you love _her_?"

"I…" he began, trying to put his feelings in order, "when I found her in the woods… she looked dead. For a moment there, I truly thought she was gone. Save for the time the Dark One threatened Roland's life, I don't think I've ever been so scared."

"But you got to her in time," Killian said, and Robin nodded, his relief evident in the way he sighed before he spoke.

"When they told me she'd make it, it was like I could breathe again."

"But you said yourself you were only just starting to spend time together, and you have Marian now, so why does the queen being alive or dead affect you so much?" Killian prodded. Robin frowned for a moment, images of Regina's cold, limp body flitting through his mind, and the answer came to him easily then.

"Because… I don't think I could handle living in a world where she doesn't exist," he whispered. It was the simple, honest truth, and Robin could see that now.

"Well then, I guess you have your answer," Killian said with an air of amused superiority, as if it had been obvious all along.

"It's not that simple," Robin replied, thinking of Marian, of Roland, of this entire mess his life had turned into.

"No, it really isn't. But then, when has anything worth fighting for ever been simple?" he said as he looked over to the car at a disgruntled Emma with a fond smile on his face, no doubt thinking of all the trials he had to endure before she finally stopped running from him.

"I know we're not very well acquainted with each other yet, but we're very alike, you and I," Killian said after a few minutes of charged silence.

"I suppose we are, except at least my plundering and stealing had a good cause behind it," Robin joked, and Killian shook his head, signaling that he'd misunderstood.

"That's not what I meant, though I suppose you're right on that count," the pirate said, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before he continued, "a while ago, I lost the love of my life too. Murdered by Rumplestilskin. She was his wife before she ran off with me."

"Sounds awfully complicated," was all Robin could reply.

"Aye, it was, but I loved her, and we both loved the sea. We were free and we were happy. After she died I coped by drinking, fighting, closed myself off to the possibility of happiness because I couldn't fathom spending my life with anyone else. I was bitter and reckless and cared for no one. And then Swan came along," Killian said, and Robin could almost hear the lovesick sigh the pirate suppressed as he spoke of Emma, looking at her again as she sat in the car checking her phone.

"Sounds like you found your second chance," Robin told him, and Hook nodded.

"Aye, and so did you."

"With Marian," Robin said, and he couldn't help feeling a little deflated as he thought about it.

"Not necessarily," Killian intervened, "see, I loved Milah dearly, and she made me happier than anything else ever had, but…"

"But?"

"If someone were to bring me my Milah back right this second, if I were to see her again, alive and safe and willing to embark on yet another adventure with me, I'd be ecstatic, I would do everything in my power to make her happy and comfortable in this new life, but we wouldn't be together, because I'd still choose Emma."

"You can't know that for sure," Robin said.

"Oh but I do. I will always choose Emma Swan."

"How do you know?"

"Because I couldn't live in a world where she doesn't exist," Killian replied, throwing his words from earlier back at him with a small smile, and it suddenly dawned on Robin that _that's_ what had been missing from his renewed relationship with Marian. Yes, he was glad that she was back, alive and well, but there was no gut-wrenching fear of losing her again, no burning need to touch her or to have her close and kiss her whenever possible. _Finally_, everything snapped into place and Robin realized that his desire to protect Marian and his choice to stay with her had been rooted only in the fact that she was Roland's mother. Yes, he wanted her to be happy, because he cared for her, of course he did, but it would never work out, and Robin now understood why. It was because he didn't love her. Not anymore.

He loved Regina.

x-x-x-x-x

Regina watched as her son played nervously with his hands, bouncing his knee as he looked around the room from his chair.

"Do you remember the time you broke your bedroom window?" she asked him conversationally, and he stopped his fussing to look at her questioningly.

"Which time?" he asked with a grin, and Regina laughed at his comment.

"The first time. You had just turned seven and you wouldn't let go of that baseball Archie got you for your birthday," she tells him fondly, "no matter how many times I told you to play a safe distance away from the house and the car, you didn't listen."

"And then one day I tripped when I threw it and it went straight through the window. I was so scared of telling you!" he says, smiling at the memory, "And it was all for nothing because when I finally did tell you, you said you already knew."

"Do you want to know _how _I knew?" she asked him.

"Your amazing intuition?" he joked.

"Because all day long you had the guiltiest look on your face, and you kept fidgeting whenever I was near you… _just like you're doing now_," she said pointedly, giving him a knowing smile, "what's wrong, Henry?"

"Nothing," he answered, shaking his head and looking everywhere but at her.

"Honey, I'm your mother, please don't hide from me," she said, stretching her hand to rest over his on his knee, stopping its bouncing, and Henry took a deep breath and carefully pulled something out of his jacket pocket. Upon closer inspection, Regina realized it was a rolled up piece of paper, and she held one end of it while Henry unrolled the other, revealing the terribly colored picture that Roland had left for her, the words "Get well soon!" scribbled on top of the three figures that had been labeled with her name, Roland's and Henry's.

"He wanted you to have it," Henry said simply, and for a moment Regina stared at the picture with tears in her eyes before she rolled it up again and put it on the night table next to the bed.

"So… Roland's your knight, huh?" he asked in a tone so low she had to strain to hear him, and then she gasped as she finally understood what was bothering her son.

"Oh sweetheart—" she began, but he spoke over her.

"It's not that I'm jealous, I'm not, I just… okay, maybe I'm a little jealous," he said, giving her a sheepish grin to try to lighten the mood, to pass it off like it was no big deal, but Regina wouldn't have it, tightening her grasp on his hand and tugging him towards her. Henry got out of the chair and into the bed, cuddling at her side, her arm wrapped around him as she spoke against his hair.

"I won't deny that Roland is… quite special to me," she said, remembering how he used to follow her around the castle, caring for her even when she snapped at him or broke down in tears, when the last thing she needed was to have children around because it only reminded her of the one child she wanted to hold, but couldn't.

"You have to understand, Henry, I was in a very dark place when we went back to the Enchanted Forest," she continued, "I missed you terribly, and the thought of never seeing you again, that even if I did, you wouldn't know who I was… it hurt so much, I… I didn't have anything to live for," she could feel the tears forming in her eyes as she spoke, and Henry held her tighter.

"Roland was a bit of a light in all that darkness. He was so persistent! And those dimples are hard to resist," she said, smiling at the image of the boy's toothy smile and the two tiny indents on his cheeks.

"Yes, he considers himself my knight and I regard him as such on many levels. I love him very much," she finally said after a few silent minutes, bringing her hand up and grasping his chin, tilting his head up so she could fully look at him.

"But you, Henry, you are my _everything_," she said fiercely as she looked into his eyes, tears spilling freely out of hers now, "my life makes no sense without you in it. I've never known pain as intense as the pain I felt when I lost you, and I don't ever want to feel that way again," she told him, and he nodded, his eyes watery.

"Mom, you became a hero out of your love for _me_, that's proof enough. I know I'm being silly about this, and I like Roland! He's awesome, I just… I don't know, I've never had to share you before, it feels strange."

"You don't have to share me with anyone, I'm no one else's mother but yours. You'll always come first for me, Henry, never doubt that," she told him with a watery smile, and he nodded, tucking his head back in the crook of her neck and breathing deeply.

"Besides, I doubt I'll be seeing much of Roland anymore, so you don't have to worry about that."

"What? Why?"

"It seems his mother still thinks of me as…"

"Evil," they both said at the same time.

"She's wrong," Henry told her, and Regina smiled tearfully at him, but said nothing.

"She is, mom, you're not evil, not anymore."

"I killed her, Henry."

"No you didn't, she's here, isn't she?"

"You know what I mean."

"No, mom. What if someone rescued her at the last minute? What if she managed to escape in some other way? There's no way for us to know what happened in the original timeline anymore, and even if you _had _killed her, we all know you've made mistakes, but you've fought hard to fix them. You've proved to yourself and to everyone else that there's good in you, that you can love and be loved, don't let Marian's opinion make you think any different. You're _not_ a villain, you're my mom," he finished, repeating the words he'd said to her before Pan's curse had forced them apart, and now they were both sitting up on the bed, crying as they hugged each other fiercely.

"My little prince," she said when they parted, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Promise me you'll be safe tomorrow, that you won't do anything crazy," he said, and for the first time, she was able to see how truly scared he was of what could happen the next day.

"I'll be fine, and I'll come back to you, I promise."

* * *

_**A/N: Everything is Regal Believer and nothing hurts (for now anyway). Also, I am SO RELIEVED that I finally got to post this chapter because I've been dying to give Robin that moment of clarity, now we can move on to more Outlaw Queen scenes that don't involve so much heartbreak.**_

_**Also, reviews would be nice, you know, if you have the time =)**_

_**Have a great weekend!**_

_**-B**_


	12. Chapter 12

**_I own nothing (except the feels, those are all mine)_**

**_Lots of POV changes in this one so I'm sorry if it feels a little rushed._**

**_Also, please take a moment to read A/N at the bottom of this chapter for an announcement ^^  
_**

* * *

**Chapter 12  
**

* * *

"Where are we going?" Robin asked him, and Killian pointed to the barn with his hook while Emma continued driving the car.

"We have to find the bottle that Elsa was trapped in. Regina said it must have landed somewhere close to where we did when we came back through the portal."

"So we're trapping her, not killing her," Robin concluded.

"Yes, well, we don't really know how to vanquish her, do we? Besides, the queen wants to end this without killing anyone," Killian replied.

"She's been doing a lot of that lately," Emma interjected.

"Yes, it seems being in love has made her positively benevolent, hasn't it?" Killian played along, the corner of his mouth lifting in amusement as he looked at Robin, who now had his head in his hands.

"It's bad form to mock a man when he's down," the archer said, and it was Emma who laughed this time.

"Serves you right. I still can't believe you hadn't realized she loves you… or that you love _her_, for that matter."

"You're one to talk," Robin fired at Emma, "how long did it take you to convince her, again?" he then asked Killian.

"Alright, fair enough," Emma replied, her cheeks reddening a little, but Killian put his hand over hers on the gearshift.

"I'd do it all over again if I had to, love," he told her, and Emma smiled at him before Robin's annoyed grunt interrupted them.

"Sorry, mate," Killian replied with a twist of his lips.

When they arrived at the barn, it took them mere seconds to realize that the bottle was no longer an option, as it was scattered in pieces around the circular maze that Zelena had drawn for her time traveling spell.

"Regina's going to kill me," Emma said in a low voice as she stared blankly at the remnants of the bottle on the floor.

"I'm sure it won't come to that," Robin interjected, but Emma shook her head.

"You don't understand, if we don't have that bottle, we have no way of trapping Elsa. We can't stop her."

"Then I suppose we'll have to follow the queen's initial plan and reason with the lass," Killian said, "let's hope she's more receptive this time."

* * *

"He's turning into quite a handsome young man," a voice said from the doorway, and Regina's sleepy gaze drifted towards it, landing on Tinkerbell.

"I know that becoming adults makes everything more complicated for everyone, but after so many years in Neverland, it's a relief to see children actually growing up," she smiled tentatively, looking down at Henry, who was sleeping on his side, his face cuddled into his mother's stomach, his arm stretched out over it, legs slightly hanging off the side of the bed.

"What are you doing here?" Regina asked, glad that her throat seemed to be functioning correctly now, her voice strong and determined. Not once did she look at the fairy, merely staring at her fingers as they ran through Henry's hair while she spoke.

"I… I wanted to apologize," Tinkerbell replied.

"Apologize for what?"

"If I hadn't been so persistent about Robin, if I hadn't… I shouldn't have pushed you. I've stayed away because I didn't want to cause you any more pain, but after what happened to you in the woods, I just had to tell you I'm sorry… If I had let you handle it yourself, if I had only kept my mouth shut, you wouldn't be hurting right now," the fairy said, her voice breaking, and Regina felt something tug at her chest. After a deep breath, she finally looked at Tinkerbell.

"It wasn't your fault, you were only trying to help, I was the one who was foolish enough to believe that I… just forget it," she said, altering the last part of her sentence to stop her vulnerability from showing.

"There is nothing wrong with having hope, Regina, and you should hold on to it. I'm just… sorry that it has to hurt so much before it gets better."

"It won't get better, he has a wife, it's done."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. He loves her, he always has."

"Has he told you that?"

"Not exactly, but—"

"Has he told you he doesn't love you?"

"No, but he—"

"Then there might still be a chance, Regina."

"I'm trying really hard not to be spiteful with you right now, and you're not making it any easier. It's over, now I just want everyone to stop treating me like a kicked puppy and let me take on this witch before she freezes us all," her tone rose as she spoke, and Henry stirred at the noise, but she kissed his head and continued playing with his hair in soothing motions, scratching his scalp lightly, and he sighed against her, his sleep peaceful and deep once again.

"So now we can't worry about you?" Tinkerbell asked in an angry whisper.

"No one in this town ever has, but now because of my failed relationship, if you can even call it that, everyone suddenly wants to be my best friend? There's only two reasons behind that: either you're scared I'll snap and go on a killing spree, or what's even worse, you pity me. Well, I assure you I won't be going on a murder rampage, as I have no desire to disappoint my son. And you can all save your pity, it is disgusting and annoying and I don't want it."

"This has nothing to do with you being heartbroken or going back to your old ways. Yes, I wanted to comfort you after what happened with Robin, but that's not the only reason I'm here. You almost died, Regina!"

"Yes, well, I didn't. And even if I did, I don't see how that has any bearing on anyone but Henry."

"You stubborn woman. Did it ever occur to you that the rest of us also care about you?!" Tinkerbell's eyes were shining in anger and frustration, and it made Regina feel guilty as she realized what the fairy was saying.

"No, actually it didn't," she answered in a low voice, looking down at her son. Tinkerbell let out a breath as she shook her head and moved closer to the bed, taking Regina's free hand in hers.

"Well, we do, so get used to it. You don't save an entire town without earning yourself a few friends," she said, giving her a watery smile, one that the queen returned with a small twitch of the corner of her mouth.

"We _are_ friends, are we not?" Tinkerbell asked, and Regina took a deep breath before nodding slowly at her.

"Yes, Tinkerbell, we're friends," she told her, and the fairy grinned.

"Then please, _please _believe. It's not over yet. You _are_ soulmates, Regina, sooner or later fate will see you back to each other."

"I don't want us to be together because of fate, Tinkerbell. I want us to be together because we _choose_ to be, not because we have no say in the matter. I'm tired of my choices being taken away from me," she said bitterly.

"In any case," she continued, "even if fate did throw us together like you say, I wouldn't accept it. Robin wants his wife, I can't stand in the way of his happiness like that, I can't deprive Roland of his mother."

Tinkerbell didn't know what to reply to that.

* * *

Marian sat at the kitchen table of their small, cabin-style home, scowling at the cup of tea she held in her hand like it had slapped her.

It happened. The one truth she had wanted to avoid since she returned to her husband's life had finally surfaced: Robin loved the queen.

He hadn't said as much when she eavesdropped on his conversation with the pirate on their porch, but she had seen the look on his face as realization hit him. Her husband was in love with the Evil Queen. Marian refused to accept it. No, this had to be some trick, a test she had to pass as penance for not coming back to her family right away when she escaped Nottingham, this could not be the way things ended for her, she would not let it happen.

"Mama? Where's papa?" a sleepy voice said from the hallway, and she turned to find her son standing there, his pajamas rumpled and his hair all over his face.

"He went out for a moment, baby, he'll be back later," she said kindly.

"But he has to tuck me in, I can't sleep if he doesn't tuck me in!" he replied, his voice growing a little frantic. Marian instantly went to her son and knelt in front of him, cupping his face in both hands.

"Hey, hey, shh, it's okay, I'll tuck you in, come on," she told him, getting up and offering him her hand. Roland seemed to consider her offer for a moment before he finally nodded.

"Okay, but just this time," he said. It was an innocent enough statement, but it killed her. Her son was conditioning her, he was _settling _for her because his father wasn't around, and the fact that he had grown up without her hit her like a ton of bricks all over again, but she kept her eyes dry, walking to her son's room with him in tow.

Once she had settled him under the blankets and made him comfortable, she sat on the floor by the side of the bed and held his hand.

"So, is there anything special that your father does for you when he tucks you in?"

"He tells me stories, and then he tells me what I'm going to dream about that night."

"Really?" she asked with interest, and her son nodded happily at her.

"Sometimes he says I'm going to dream of a magical land with lots of good fairies that can make sweets appear from the sky, or I'm going to help a hero slay a dragon and save people, other times he says I'm just going to dream about running through the fields with all the animals and playing with them," he said contentedly.

"And do you really dream about those things?" she asked him with a smile, loving that her son was telling her all this. She and Robin had tucked him in together a few times since she'd been back in their lives, but Roland had never let her be part of their father-son nightly routine, and she had no idea what it was that made it so special until now.

"Sometimes," he shrugged.

"What about bad dreams? What does your father do when you have a bad dream?" she asked him, and Roland shook his head.

"I don't have them anymore, I only had them when I was at the castle," he told her.

"The castle?"

"Yeah, we lived in Regina's castle before we came here," he beamed, "it was so big, mama! And it had moats and gardens with fruit trees and flowers and a huge room full of books!" he was excited now, and Marian's anger at the queen burned stronger, but she didn't let it show as she kept talking to her son, excited to soak up whatever details of his life he offered.

"That sounds wonderful," she told him, though the castle had seemed anything but that during her short stay in its dungeons.

"I found a secret door in the room with the books one night," he said conspiratorially.

"You did?! And where did the secret door take you?" Marian asked in the same hushed tone.

"To Regina's room. She was sad sometimes so I used the secret door to visit her and we'd sing songs and she'd make funny things with her magic to make me laugh," he said, his eyes droopy now.

"Did she, now?" she asked with mock interest.

"Uh huh, and then when I had the bad dreams she would come to my room and sing to me," he babbled almost unintelligibly, sighing deeply as he succumbed to sleep little by little.

"She sang to you?" Marian asked in a whisper.

"Mm hmm, she said I was her knight so she would take care of me and her song would chase the bad dreams away," he said, stifling a yawn.

"And why didn't your papa sing to you? Why the Ev— Regina?" she prodded, and her son grinned, his eyes closing.

"Because Papa said his voice sounds like pigs playing in the mud," he said with a sleepy giggle, and Marian frowned. Robin had a beautiful voice, she knew, she'd heard him sing to her countless times before.

"I think papa just really liked hearing her sing," he breathed.

"And why do you think that?" she asked him gently.

"Because when she was singing, he'd hide in my room and look at her," he said, grinning again before his head turned to the side as he cuddled under the blankets, "it was a secret because he said if she knew he was watching she would stop singing, you won't tell Regina, right mama?"

"Of course not, my son," she replied, her hand carding through his unruly curls as he sighed in relief. He was asleep in seconds.

Marian rose from her spot on the floor next to the bed, kissing her son's head before she turned off the light and left the room, closing the door softly behind her and trying to rein in the angry sobs that were fighting to break out of her. Roland loved the queen too.

This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't. She would not let Robin go back to that woman, she would not lose her husband and her child again, least of all to the person who had imprisoned and tortured her. No, she would make sure the queen never came near her family again, and she knew exactly how to do it.

* * *

She was up early the next day, out the door before the sun was even up. Robin had come home late from his quest with Emma and Hook the night before, so she knew he wouldn't even stir as she got ready and left the house. She'd heard of the different means of transportation in this new realm, and knew the big metallic box would take her where she needed to go, so she stood by the bus stop for a few seconds and climbed into the contraption when it appeared in front of her, letting the driver know she'd get off as close to the town limits as possible.

Even with the bus ride, it took her a good fifteen minutes of walking to reach the area of the forest where Robin and Hook had mentioned the ice queen was hiding. Tentatively, she walked through the blocks of ice and into the huge frozen structure that she assumed was Elsa's lair, her hands raised up the entire time as she called out for her.

"Elsa? I know you're scared, but I've come to help. Please! Let me help you," she said, and then saw something move from behind a wall of ice to her right. Moving to look directly at it, she gasped as the young queen stepped into view, a scowl on her face.

"And how exactly are you going to help me? Unless you have a way for me to get back to Arendelle, I don't see how you could possibly be of service to me," she said with an air of superiority that reminded Marian of the Evil Queen back in the Enchanted Forest.

"I've come to warn you. The queen, she's planning to kill you."

"That's what this is about? She is no threat to me. I stopped her once, I can do it again," Elsa replied, unfazed.

"You don't understand. She's a witch! She has dark magic she can use against you," Marian said, "but there's a way to stop her."

"How?" Elsa was intrigued now, she had not known that the woman she'd encountered had magic, and now she was scared, because as powerful as she could be with her ice, she had no control over it, and someone more skilled in magic, in dark magic, could easily defeat her.

"By getting to her before she gets to you. Destroy her, and you'll be free," she told Elsa after a deep breath.

"You want me to vanquish your queen?"

"She is _not _my queen," Marian snapped, her anger flaring.

"And how do you suppose I 'destroy' her then, if she has such strong dark magic like you say?"

"Use the thing she loves most against her."

"Excuse me?!"

Marian hesitated. She knew what she was about to suggest was horrible, that it was beneath her to even think of such an awful thing, but she had to do what was necessary to keep her family safe and together.

"She has a child, a son. Use him, take him hostage, threaten to harm him unless she gives up. She'll do anything to keep him safe, she'll accept whatever you propose, and then you'll win, and you can be free of her," Marian said.

"Are you suggesting I harm an innocent boy?!" Elsa asked in outrage.

"No! Just… make her think you will, that will be enough to get to her."

"Are you certain? What if she lashes out and kills me instead?"

"She won't, not if her son is in danger," Marian stated.

"What's in this for you? Why have you come to warn me?" Elsa suddenly asked.

"She's after my family too, I want to protect them, but I don't have magic to fight her. With your powers, you can defeat her and we can both get what we want."

"I don't know…" Elsa began, unsure, but Marian stopped her from voicing her thoughts by venturing one of her own.

"Look, they're coming today, you'll see, they'll be here later. Hide, make sure they don't see you, but when they come, you'll know I'm telling the truth, you'll see how dangerous she is."

"Let's assume for a moment that you're right, then what?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Follow them back to town, make sure no one sees you, they'll take you straight to the boy."

The sun was peeking up from the horizon now, casting a dull white light over the land, and Marian wrapped her coat tighter around her before turning back to Elsa.

"I have to go, but please, be careful, they'll be here soon," she said and left the ice fortress without waiting for a reply from the ice queen.

* * *

**_I'm going to ask that you please not hate Marian so much after this, and remember that she has every right to be angry and confused and frustrated because her entire world has been turned upside down, so just... hang on, okay? Don't start plotting her demise just yet =)_**

**_Now, as promised at the very top of this here chapter, my announcement/poll:_**

**_I've been thinking of writing a crossover of Outlaw Queen + Titanic and wanted to see if any of you guys would be interested in reading that. It would most likely be rated M and I would, of course, make BIG chances to original story (and more importantly, to the ending!), but it's still a big commitment (we're talking at least 20 chapters twice as long as the ones for this story) so I doubt I'd be taking that on if there's not enough interest in reading it._**

**_You can tell me in a review, send me a PM through here or find me on Tumblr (link on my profile) and drop me an ask, I'd love to know your thoughts on this possible story and whether or not you'd like to read it. Depending on how many people are all for it, I'll start writing it after I'm done with this story._**

**_Enjoy the weekend!  
_**

**_-B_**


	13. Chapter 13

The cold had settled in fully now, and Regina had to add a blazer, a scarf, and her thick wool coat over her black pants and gray silk shirt before she felt warm enough to move. It seemed now that she had encountered Elsa, the ice queen was not bothered with keeping secrecy, letting her wintery chill spread throughout town faster than before.

Regina had been discharged from the hospital and they had agreed to meet at her mansion to get everything ready and head to the woods, but she had not anticipated Emma and Hook showing up with Robin in tow.

"What the hell is he doing here?" she barked at Emma when they arrived, and the archer frowned at her reaction.

"He insisted," Emma answered with a shrug, looking at Robin, who was now nodding.

"Please, Regina, let me help."

"You made it pretty clear yesterday that you and I are to stay as far away from each other as possible. Besides, I don't want your help. Leave, Robin. Now."

"If you think I'm going to just let you take on Elsa by yourself, you're delusional," Robin snapped back, and Regina gasped, looking at Emma.

"You told him?! What _is_ it with you and your family's inability to keep a secret?!"

"This is a big deal, Regina, you can't hide it from him, or anyone else."

"I don't care what you think, Ms. Swan, this is my fight and I will do this on _my_ terms, now give me the bottle."

"This isn't just your fight, Regina," Emma interjected, but the queen merely glared at her.

"The bottle, Ms. Swan. Now!" she seethed, and Emma let out a breath, throwing Regina a worried glance as she spoke.

"We, uh… we don't have it."

"What?!" Regina barked.

"We ran into a bit of a problem," Killian cautioned, and Regina looked just about ready to murder him, or at the very least subject him to extreme physical pain.

"What did you do?" she asked, her voice lethal.

"Nothing, but the bottle, well… this is what we found," the pirate replied as he deposited a small cloth bundle in Regina's hands, and she opened it hastily. It was the bottle alright, but it was in pieces, pieces that were still icy cold to the touch despite having been strewn over the earth floor of the barn for days, which alerted Regina to the notion that Elsa herself had likely been the one to destroy it.

Looking closer at the bits of the bottle in her hands though, she noticed something in one of the bigger pieces, an etching in the shape of an ancient symbol. A symbol that marked the work of one particularly treacherous imp.

"Rumplestiltskin," she muttered.

"What about him?" Emma asked.

"Back when he was my mentor, he showed me how to create traps that bound magical creatures, though I could never master that particular skill," she said with a bit of disappointment in her voice, and then she pointed to the intricate marking, "but he was very adept at it, making things out of thin air that could trap almost anything. This is the symbol he used to mark the artifacts he created."

"And what does this mean for us?"

"It means that the bottle didn't just fall into his hands during his travels through other realms, like most of the relics in his collection. It means _he_ was the one who trapped Elsa in the first place," Regina replied, and Emma looked away from her, taking a deep breath before addressing Killian and Robin.

"We need to get Gold back here, _now_," Emma intervened, but Regina shook her head.

"No. I'd wager Elsa's time with him was not pleasant, we wouldn't want her to go berserk if she sees him. Let him stay away for now."

"But if he trapped her once, he can do it again," Emma said, trying to get Regina to see her point.

"We won't need to trap her if we can just get her to calm down and let me teach her to control her powers."

"Can you really do that?" Killian asked doubtfully, and Regina glared at him.

"I'm fairly certain I can, if I'm allowed the time to explore her abilities, we just need her to give us the chance."

"What if she doesn't?" came Robin's voice from where he stood behind the others. He'd been quiet for several minutes now, and Regina would say she'd forgotten he was there, but the electric current that always pulled her to him still burned within her, and her body had been painfully aware of his presence the entire time, craving to be close to him even as she exchanged words with Emma and the pirate.

"She will, we just have to—" she began, but he gave her an angry look that silenced her empty reassurances.

"What if she doesn't, Regina? What then? Are you just going to let her kill you this time?" he barked at her, and suddenly she was angry too.

"What I do is none of your business, I will handle this in whatever way I need to, I will not let my son -or yours, for that matter- be put in danger," she fired back.

"Stop making this about Henry, we both know what you're trying to do."

"And what is that?!"

"You're running from me!" he finally shouted, and Emma and Killian just looked at each other awkwardly, not wanting to be part of this conversation.

"Ms. Swan, leave us," Regina said angrily, "the _thief_ and I have some things to discuss."

Taking advantage of the offered out, Emma grabbed Hook and dragged him to the kitchen with her, leaving the other two to their banter in the living room.

"Why are you really here?" Regina asked in a low voice once they were alone.

"I told you, I'm not letting you confront Elsa by yourself."

"I'm the Evil Queen, I don't need you. I don't need anyone," she said, disguising her tone into one of boredom, not wanting to show how much it hurt her to have him near.

"Yes, you do," Robin insisted, his voice an angry whisper, "this isn't a request, Regina, I'm coming with you whether you want me to or not."

"What if something happens, huh? What if she freezes you? Who's going to explain to Roland that his father _died_ because he was stupid enough to follow the Evil Queen into a fight?!"

"Stop _calling _yourself that," he said exasperatedly.

"Why? It's who I am, it's who I've always been," she barked back, and at her words, something broke inside her, and Robin saw it, _felt_ it when he looked at her, at the tears that gathered in her eyes before she blinked them away. He sighed, stretching his hand out to hold hers and flinching when she moved away from his reach.

"Regina, please understand, I can't let you march into this alone. I can't lose you."

"I'm not yours to lose," she replied, her tone low and hoarse.

"Yes you are, I l—" he stopped himself before he could say it. This was not the time, not when he still had so many things to set right, not when he still wasn't free to love her the way she deserved to be loved.

"I care about you," he told her instead, "and so does Roland."

"Nothing will happen to me," she replied, softening at the mention of Roland's name, "I promised my son I'd come back to him."

"What if that's a promise you can't keep?"

"I've broken enough promises to Henry, I'm sticking to this one," she replied vehemently, and Robin believed her, but insisted on coming along "just in case".

Finally, Regina huffed out an annoyed "fine!" and they went out to join the others.

The four of them made their way to the forest, but found no trace of Elsa when they reached her towering ice castle, which seemed to have gotten bigger and more elaborate since they had last seen it. Robin was visibly shaken, and Emma knew exactly why. It wasn't easy watching Regina move around this place, not when paired with memories of the state she'd been in when she'd last been here, and Emma knew that those memories had to be worse on Robin now that he had realized the full extent of his feelings for the queen. Walking closer to him, she put a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry, this must be hard on you," she muttered so that Regina wouldn't hear them. Robin merely sighed and nodded.

"I'll be fine when this is over and I have her back in my arms," he whispered back, and they shared a small, knowing smile, one that Regina caught out of the corner of her eye, but refused to ask about.

"She's not here, let's go," she barked at them, making her way out of the woods and back to her car, not even waiting for anyone to climb in with her and leaving Emma, Killian and Robin to cramp inside the yellow bug.

Once back at the manor, they discussed their options, the meeting lasting well into the lunch hour, and Regina didn't know if the clenching in her stomach was due to the fact that she was starving or to Robin's presence in the room, hovering over her and never taking his eyes off her. She kept her distance, though, adamant on not paying him any attention so that he would leave or at the very least stop looking at her like that.

"Regina! Regina!" a boy's voice came from the doorway, and she walked to the foyer to see Snow walking inside with baby Neal in her arms, Henry and Roland in tow.

"I hope you don't mind, we ran into this little guy and his mother at Granny's and he insisted on coming to see you," Snow told her, placing Henry's key back in his book bag as she spoke, but Regina wasn't listening, too busy wrapping her arms around her son, who hugged her fiercely and murmured how glad he was that she'd made it back.

"Elsa wasn't there, which means she's probably meandering somewhere closer to town. We have to be careful," she said to him, cupping his cheek when he nodded and then bending down to scoop Roland into her arms.

"Regina, I want one," he told her, looking out the window and pointing to her tree, still tall and green and full of ripe, juicy apples despite the unexpected winter that was enveloping Storybrooke thanks to Elsa. Regina remembered the countless times Roland had made her walk him to the bushes in the gardens of her castle back in the Enchanted Forest, hell-bent on picking strawberries so they could munch on them while she told him stories. She knew it wasn't so much about the fruit itself, but about plucking it from the plant and sharing it with her, so she smiled and nodded, hoisting him up in her arms and balancing his little body on her hip.

"Anything for my brave knight," she whispered, loving the blinding smile that appeared on his face as she went outside to the towering apple tree, Henry remaining by the door with Snow as they looked at them with matching grins on their faces.

Standing on her tiptoes, she managed to stretch Roland out enough for him to grab one of the apples closest to them, and he giggled as he took the sweet, red sphere from the branch and brought it to his mouth. Regina laughed a little at his enthusiasm, taking her own bite from the apple when he all but shoved it against her lips, and she used the pad of her thumb to wipe away some of the juice that lingered on his chin after he bit into the fruit a second time.

"Regina, my nose is cold," he whined through a mouthful of apple, and she smiled at him tenderly, bringing her nose to his and giving him one of their Eskimo kisses, and he giggled and responded in kind before burying his face on her shoulder as she walked back inside, away from the cold and the strange sensation of being watched, which had settled in her as soon as she stepped into the garden.

The others had gathered in the kitchen for chocolate milk, but Regina remained in the foyer for a moment, enjoying Roland's embrace.

"Snow said you were with your mother at Granny's before you came here?" she asked him then, curious to know if the boy had finally started to truly accept his mother's presence in his life. He nodded, telling her about his morning with his mama, how she'd taken him to the park and then for an early lunch at the old woman's diner.

"We were almost going home when the princess said hello," he finished, taking yet another bite of the apple still in his hand, his other arm not letting go of Regina even as she shifted him from one hip to the other.

"Sounds like you were having a great time," she said, "why didn't you stay with your mama?"

"I wanted to see you," he shrugged, like it was obvious, "and Henry said papa would be here, so mama said okay."

As if called over by Roland's mention of him, Robin suddenly appeared at the foyer, taking his son from Regina and lifting him up in the air, making him laugh.

"You are a very stubborn young man. Did I not tell you to stay with your mother while I went on this mission?" he chided, though there was no anger in his voice.

"But I did! I stayed aaallll day, papa!" he complained.

"But you're here now, you were supposed to wait for me to come home to you."

"But mama said I could visit Regina with the princess and Henry!" Roland's voice was an octave higher than usual as he desperately tried to explain, and Robin chuckled at his son before he shook his head and ruffled his hair.

"It's alright, my boy, no need to worry," he said, throwing a glance at Regina, who was leaning against the wall and looking at them with longing. Robin knew what she was thinking, knew she missed them just as much as they missed her, and it would've been the perfect time to tell her, to profess his love for her, but again, he still hadn't talked to Marian, still wasn't at liberty to follow his heart, and thus he knew Regina would reject him, and she'd be right to. But that didn't make it any less painful for him to see her and not be able to touch her. He yearned for her, for her lips and her warmth and her soft hair between his fingers, and as the images of all those precious moments assaulted his mind, his body responded automatically, leaning closer to her as he put Roland down and let him run to the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" she asked, pulling back from him, and that shook him out of his haze.

"Nothing, I… forgive me."

"I think you should leave, Robin," she told him, still shaken by his close proximity.

"Elsa—" he began, but she shook her head, raising a hand and cutting him off.

"We don't know where she is or what she's planning now that she's left her fortress, we have to sit and talk strategies before we go after her again."

"Then I'll stay and discuss these tactics with you," he retorted.

"No, you need to be with your wife and your son needs to spend time with his mother, I'll handle this."

"Regina—" he started, but she spoke over him again, her voice calm and steady.

"I'm not doing this to run from you or to push you away, I'm doing this because I'm the only one with magic who can deal with Elsa if the need arises, and right now we won't be fighting her, so there's no need for you to be here."

"If you were going after her, would you call on me to help, then?" he asked, and she couldn't bring herself to lie, but also couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth, that she would never call on him again, that she'd refuse his help and his concern for her as long as she had to in order to get him out of her soul and move on, even though it felt like an impossible feat.

"I'm sure Emma will let you know of our progress," she said instead, her distaste for Emma's antics clear in her voice, and Robin grinned a little at her.

"Yes, I'm sure she will," he replied, "good to know I won't be excluded, then."

"Why do you care so much? At the hospital, you said things would change, that Roland wouldn't be spending so much time with me, that there had to be distance between us."

"I never said there had to be distance."

"You certainly implied it. And I'm sure it can't be easy for you to stand in front of the woman who killed your wife, so why are you here?"

"You didn't kill her, Regina."

"Maybe not now, not after Emma messed with the past, but there was a time where I did murder her, Robin. An innocent woman that I don't even remember because I've murdered so many. The love of your life died at my hands, why do you still care about me or what I do? You should hate me."

"I could never hate you, Regina."

"Answer the question."

"I… Marian allowed Roland to come see you today, maybe she's coming around, accepting the fact that you're no longer the queen she knew. If she can see it, why can't you?"

"You're deflecting," she accused.

"As are you," he countered, making her huff and turn away from him, walking to the kitchen.

"Go home, Robin, Marian awaits," she threw over her shoulder, leaving him alone in the living room to stare after her, his need for her burning stronger than it ever had before.

* * *

**_Ok so, first of all, sorry for updating so late today, this was supposed to go up very VERY early this morning, but I overslept and then things got in the way._**

**_Second, I realize that for an Outlaw Queen story, there isn't much Outlaw Queen here, but I promise that's all about to change._**

**_I'd wager we have about 5 or so chapters left of this, and I've decided to stop working on prompts for now so I can focus on finishing this story and hopefully updating it more often so that we can finish it before the new season starts. I will include some M rated chapters towards the end (because we all need it after all this angst, amirite?), so please, stick with me!_**

**_On another note, thanks to those of you who have expressed your support for the Titanic crossover! I've gotten such great responses both here and on Tumblr so I've decided to write it and will be working on that very soon!  
_**

**_Have a nice weekend! And keep an eye out, I may or may not be adding an extra chapter here before the weekend is over._**

**_-B_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Not mine**_

* * *

**Chapter 14**

* * *

"You're home early," Marian said as Robin made his way inside their house later that afternoon, Roland riding piggyback behind him, still holding the half-eaten apple he'd gotten from Regina.

"The others stayed at the manor, discussing strategy," Robin replied, frowning still at how Regina had not wanted him to stay. Again, he knew she was right in her reasoning, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. Robin put Roland down on the floor, sent him scampering off to his room and then told her about Elsa. Marian pretended not to know anything, not to have heard his conversation with Hook and Emma the night before, and acted convincingly astonished at what was happening, even making Robin think she was afraid, and he rushed to comfort her.

"It'll be alright, Regina will fix this."

"Of course she will," Marian said in a bitter tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"This is another one of her tricks, Robin. Don't you see?! She wants everyone to think she's good, that she's changed, because she knows she won't be able to keep you if you realize who she truly is," she tried to warn him. She felt horrible for crushing his hopes, because she knew how he felt about the queen, but she loved her husband, and she needed to protect him.

"Marian, please, not this again. I thought you letting Roland go see her meant you'd accepted her."

"I let him go because _Princess Snow_ asked him if he wanted to join them, I couldn't well deny her request. Besides, I thought it would be good for Roland to have one final visit with the Evi— with _her_," she altered when she saw Robin's eyes flash in anger at the name, "it will give him closure."

"Closure from what?" Robin asked, and Marian realized how carried away she'd gotten in talking about this, so she backtracked to the first possible excuse she could think of.

"From now on, Roland will stay away from the queen. I will not have my son spending time with her."

"Marian—" he began, but she stopped his pleas before they even left his mouth.

"No, Robin. I've had enough. I understand that things changed for you, that you had a terrible time adjusting after I wasn't around anymore and that you found someone in her that made you happy, but I'm back now, we are a family, we can be happy again, you and me, with our beautiful boy. But that can't happen if she's around, it can't happen if she is closer to my son than I am. Roland will not be seeing the queen again."

The clatter of heavy plastic against the floor stopped Robin from replying, and they turned to see Roland standing in the hall, clutching his stuffed monkey in one hand, the other curved as if he were still holding the green sippy cup that he'd let fall from it.

"I can't see Regina?" he asked, lip quivering.

"Baby, please understand—" Marian began, but it was too late, he'd heard enough. Suddenly he was running to his room, slamming the door shut behind him as he cried and cried and cried. Robin ran after him, knocking on his door repeatedly, asking to let him in, promising it wouldn't be that way, that he'd see Regina again (Marian huffed at that promise) and that his mother hadn't meant for him to be sad, but Roland refused to open the door, yelling "liar!" as he continued to cry.

"Marian, you can't do this," Robin murmured, his exasperation barely hidden in his tone.

"I'm his mother, I know what's best for him, for all of us. We just need time."

"I had time, Marian, years of it. I mourned you, cried over you, became self-destructive thanks to my guilt, until Roland pulled me out of it. I realize that you're his mother, and I would never want to take away from that, but you don't know our son like I do. He's devastated, you can't forbid him to see Regina."

"She tortured and threatened to kill me, how can I _not_ forbid him to be near her?!" she was frustrated now.

"She's changed."

"So you've said."

"Why can't you give her a chance?"

"Because she'll use it to take you both from me. I will not allow that," Marian snapped as she walked away from Roland's door. Hesitantly, Robin stepped away as well, leaving his son to his quiet cries for the time being.

"Marian, we need to talk," he said, walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. She knew what he wanted to say, and she refused to hear it, so she shook her head at him.

"Can we… can it wait 'til morning? I'm too wound up tonight, and I have a sense that what you want to say to me won't be good news," she whispered, her eyes watering.

"Alright," he finally said, exhaling deeply and heading to the kitchen while she walked to their bedroom and locked the door behind her. She knew he'd be sleeping on the couch tonight, as he had been for the past three days, moving from their bed to the living room when he thought she wouldn't notice, and she let him, too tired to argue but extremely relieved that he'd agreed to put off their talk for another day. She could see her marriage falling apart, could see her family slipping from her grasp, but maybe if she stalled long enough for Elsa to heed her counsel and take down the queen, she wouldn't have to listen to Robin confess that he was in love with someone else. Maybe, if the Evil Queen fell to Elsa before Robin could tell her how he felt, he'd stay.

* * *

Robin sat on the couch with a cup of coffee in his hand. He hadn't known of the beverage when he arrived in this land, only discovering it when Regina had ordered it at breakfast one day, and he found he liked the strong, somewhat bitter taste of the drink, it helped him clear his head, which is what he was trying to do now as he pondered his situation for the millionth time.

He loved Regina. Seeing her today had only served to cement that fact in his very soul. He loved her, he wanted _her_, forever. She'd pushed him away, of course, as was her nature, but oh she had looked so beautiful, strong and confident and ready to take down whatever posed a danger to her son… and his. Somehow, her inclusion of Roland when she had talked about protecting Henry from Elsa's powers had made Robin's feelings for her grow. He knew she loved his son, knew she had a special part of her reserved just for him and his smiles and his dimples. He'd known this since they'd met in the Enchanted Forest, when she saved him from the flying monkey, when she allowed him into her heart even as she pushed everyone else away. That had been what intrigued him about her in the first place, how she could be so open with this little boy and so callous to the rest of them, but then it had all made sense when she'd finally confessed to missing her son.

Robin had wanted to talk to Marian right away, wanted to clear things between them so that the farce could stop. It did them no good to be trapped in this mockery of a relationship when his heart belonged to another, and while he was glad that she was back and could enjoy their son as all mothers are supposed to do, he couldn't love her again, no matter how hard he tried. Because he had found his soul mate, and he would not make the mistake of letting her go ever again.

Draining what was left of his coffee, Robin went to the bathroom down the hall to splash some water on his face, seeking a reprieve from his worries, and Roland chose that very moment to slip out of his room, a coat and scarf wrapped tightly around him, his knit floppy hat bouncing as he carried his stuffed monkey and his boots with him. Quietly, so as not to alert his parents to what he was doing, the boy slipped out of the house, stopping to put on his shoes over his thick wooly socks when he was far enough that he was sure his parents wouldn't see him.

It was chilly, and the wind was beating hard against him, but he powered through, squinting against the bitter cold and slowly making his way down the street. He couldn't read the signs on the street, but he knew that the first thing he had to do was walk all the way down to the big, battered blue metal box that Prince David had once explained carried letters inside it, and then turn to the side that had the big green pine tree in the corner.

A few times he lost his way, but he had been raised by a band of noble thieves, and they'd taught him how to tread through the forest by picking out eye-catching details every few steps, things that he'd remember when he passed so that he could always find his way back, and he'd applied that same knowledge to his walks around Storybrooke. With his teeth chattering a little from the cold, he continued to walk, turning this way and that depending on where the broken lamppost was, or on which side of the road the clock tower loomed over him, on or how far he was from the big black bench in the park, and as he kept finding his little landmarks, he found himself in the correct path again, his desperate tears growing harder and harder to contain the closer he got to his destination.

* * *

When Regina told Henry that he would be safer at Emma's for the night, he'd frowned and refused to go, not wanting to leave her side, but even he could see that it was the better option. While Elsa probably had no idea how things in this land worked, nor did she know where any of them lived, she was still very powerful, and chances were that Regina would be her first target if she were to start looking for one, so in the end Henry had begrudgingly agreed to spend the night with his other mom and grandparents, mumbling about how baby Neal would be keeping him up half the night.

She had just said goodbye to her son less than an hour ago and was fixing herself a cup of tea when a timid knock on the front door startled her. She was sure that if Elsa were to come for her, she wouldn't knock on her door so politely, but they'd all agreed to meet here again the next morning, so she wasn't expecting anybody. Her survival instincts kicked in immediately.

As she grasped the heavy handle and pulled the door open with one hand, fireball at the ready on the other, it took Regina a fraction of a second longer than usual to realize who had knocked. At first, she didn't see anyone, but when she dropped her gaze lower and realized it was Roland who was standing there, looking distraught and very tired, the fire in her hand disappeared instantly.

"Regina, can I come live with you?" he asked by way of greeting, pouting as he looked up at her, and her eyes widened in response.

"Roland, what are you doing here? Where's your father?" she inquired in a worried tone. The boy merely continued to look at her, extending his arms in the universal sign of children wanting to be picked up, and she did, unable to resist him when she noticed the stream of tears.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, honey, you're safe, it's alright," she kept whispering into his hair, jostling him a little in her arms to soothe him until finally, his wails quieted to slow, weepy intakes of breath, and she took advantage of his new-found calm to try and get answers out of him. There was no sense of urgency in him, just sadness, so she knew that nothing awful could be happening to Robin, and that helped her retain her composure as she spoke.

"Roland, do your parents know that you're with me?" she asked, sensing where this was going, and he buried his face in her chest as he shook his head.

"How did you get here?" she asked next.

"I walked," his voice was muffled against the fabric of her shirt, but she heard him, gasping at the realization that he had come all the way from his house to hers by himself. It wasn't a long trek by any means, Storybrooke was a small town and everything was a short distance from everything, but for a five year old boy to walk seven blocks in the cold by himself when there was a mad ice queen on the loose was quite a dangerous feat.

"You remembered how to get here all by yourself?" she asked incredulously. He'd only been to her house a handful of times, after all.

"A little. I got lost for a while, but then I saw the big red lights and found my way again," he told her with a small but very proud smile, and for once Regina was glad that her neighbor from down the street -one of Snow's insufferable dwarf friends- hadn't listened to her when she'd asked him repeatedly to take down the annoyingly red bulbs from the lamps by his door. The disturbing but unique color of his lights had guided Roland to her.

"We need to tell your papa that you're here, he's probably scared right now looking for you," she said, moving inside and shutting the door behind her with her foot, both arms still balancing the boy on her hip. Roland bolted at the mention of his father, though, slipping from her grasp and hiding behind her couch, his crying picking up again.

"Please don't tell him, Regina, he'll take me away!"

"Away? Roland, he's probably beside himself with worry, wondering what happened to you, we have to let him know you're safe."

"No, no, no, don't tell him, please! He'll take me back and I won't see you again," he sobbed, running back to her and barreling himself against her legs, her hands instantly going to his hair as she took one step back to kneel in front of him.

"Sweetheart, you're not making any sense, you need to calm down," she tried, but he was shaking his head frantically, still begging her not to reveal his whereabouts.

"How about this, you tell me what happened, and then we can figure out what to do, is that okay?" she offered, and finally, he nodded, a pouty bottom lip caught between his teeth.

Sitting cross-legged on the plush carpet, Regina coaxed Roland into her lap, his back against her torso, her chin resting on the top of his head, fingers running through the curls behind his ears, waiting for him to talk when he was ready.

"Mm-ma-mama and p-p-papa were fighting again, and I wanted t-t-to make them happy so I was g-g-guh-going to let mama have m-my monkey so she wouldn't c-cry, she always c-c-cries after she and p-papa fight," he began, hiccuping the words as he tried to calm his sobs.

"You brought your monkey with you, I take it you didn't give it to your mama in the end?" she asked with a knowing smile that he couldn't see, and he shook his head, turning on his side so he could rest his head against her chest, heaving a deep sigh and quieting down for a few minutes while she rocked their bodies back and forth. When he finally spoke again, he was calm, but his voice sounded gloomy and broken now.

"I was going to, but when I was there s-sh-she told papa she wasn't going to let me see you anymore," and that was it, that was the reason he'd ran from home, she realized, had walked in the cold all on his own to get here. He did not want to be kept away from her.

"Roland, sweetheart, you can't run away like that, your mama and your papa love you very much and they would be heartbroken if something happened to you."

"Mama doesn't love me, if she did she would let me see you."

"Honey, it's not that simple. Your mother does love you, it's just that she and I have a… a complicated history."

"Why?" he asked, curiosity shining in his teary eyes.

"Well, your mama traveled to this land just like we did, but she also traveled in time. She was in the Enchanted Forest, but in a time where you were just a baby, years before we lived together in the castle. Do you understand?"

"I think so," he answered, scrunching up his nose, and she smiled a little before she continued.

"Well, the thing is, in the time that she lived, it was the time where I was…"

"The bad queen," he finished for her, "papa told me," he acknowledged like it wasn't important, like it shouldn't have any bearing on his mother's actions.

"I… I hurt your mother back then, Roland, and I'm so sorry," Regina told him, not realizing that she was crying until the boy raised his hand to wipe the tears away, smiling at her.

"'S okay," he said, and she was reminded of when he had said those very same words back at the castle. She had confessed to him all of her sins without even meaning to, had finally opened up and let out the pain that was consuming her, all to this little boy who hadn't even batted an eye in fear or disgust, merely smiled at her and said 'it's okay' just like he was doing now, his tiny hands patting one of hers where it rested on his knee.

"No, it's not okay. I made your papa sad, and I made you grow up without your mama. I did a horrible, horrible thing to you and to your father, and I don't deserve to be forgiven for that."

"Yes you do," he said simply, his tears now dry, too busy consoling her to even think about his own pain at this point.

"You're young, you forgive easily, but not everyone does. And it's alright, I understand why your mother doesn't like me, I understand why she wouldn't want you to be near me."

"But you're not bad anymore! And you saved me and Henry! You're our hero! And papa always says we all deserve a second chance," he nodded solemnly, like that settled it.

"I'm going to call your papa and tell him that you're here," she said, changing the subject, "he can come pick you up after dinner."

"But if he takes me home, mama won't let me come back!"

"Maybe it's better that way, Roland, you deserve better than me."

"But I love you," he said, his voice breaking as he hugged her tight, and it made tears spring to her eyes faster than anything ever had before, her hand running up and down his back.

"I love you, too" she whispered brokenly.

"Then don't let papa take me away, please!" he begged, and she sighed, nodding against his hair.

"I will talk to your father and if he wishes it, we'll figure out a way to convince your mama to let you visit me, alright?" she appeased, and Roland took a while to consider her proposition, pouting up at her as he finally nodded and agreed to let her call.

* * *

**_I talked about posting an extra chapter last weekend and didn't deliver, so to apologize, I have a second update coming up right after this one so don't go away just yet!_**

**_Read and leave a review, pretty please?_**

**_Have a great weekend_**

**_-B_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Not mine_**

* * *

**Chapter 15  
**

* * *

Robin's voice was frantic when he answered the phone, and Regina could tell it took him a moment to register that it was her on the other end, finally gasping her name when realization hit him.

"He's with you?!" he panted.

"Yes, he walked here, he's a little weary from the cold but he's alright," she reassured.

"Thank you," he breathed in relief, holding on to the phone like a lifeline. He had only very recently learned to use it, and he was very glad he had.

Robin had dozed off on the couch, and when he woke up, had knocked on Roland's door to check on him. He'd been surprised to hear no answer, not even his boy's sniffling or his light snoring, so when he went inside and saw that his son wasn't there, Robin went frantic, yelling for Marian and both of them desperately searching every possible hiding place inside their small house. They'd been about to leave and go look for him outside when the phone rang.

"Not a problem, I knew you'd be worried," she said, "he's having dinner at the moment, but you can come pick him up in a bit, if that's alright?" she asked, all businesslike and detached, and he knew she was doing it on purpose, putting up boundaries that clearly said this was about Roland, not about them, but Robin's emotions were too on the surface, too raw to even care about limits, so when he showed up at Regina's a half hour later, he flew to her, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her with everything he had. She was so shocked by it all that at first she didn't stop him, even melted into the kiss and whimpered at the feeling of his mouth moving over hers after so long, the taste of him sending shivers down her spine. Sure, he'd kissed her back at the hospital, but that had been no more than a tight-lipped peck, a way to physically reassure himself that she was alive. This was different, this was need and desire and something else Regina was too afraid to put a name to.

A pang of common sense is what drew her away from him, pushing at his chest and breathing an urgent "stop," against his lips before she pulled back and put some distance between them.

"I'm sorry," he said, hating that he seemed to be apologizing all the time now for wanting her, for loving her.

The need to tell Regina how he felt was burning him from the inside, a painful flame that erupted in his belly and clambered up to his heart, making his breathing heavy. But he couldn't, not while he still had to talk things through with Marian.

"He's asleep on the couch," she said, startling him out of his thoughts, "poor thing crashed after dinner, but he's okay," she finished, not acknowledging his impulsive actions.

"Thank you so much, you've no idea how worried I was," he told her.

"Actually, I do," she replied, pain flickering in her eyes as the horrible memory assaulted her, "when Henry found Emma, he ran away to Boston to get her. When I went to his room to wish him goodnight and realized he wasn't there… I was terrified."

"I know exactly what you mean," he told her, though finding her half-dead on the cold floor of Elsa's fortress had also made him just as scared as he had been earlier today, but he figured now was not the time to rehash that incident. The memory still haunted him, however, so he buried his hand in her hair when she turned her back to him, the contact meant for him to make sure somehow that she was there, that he wasn't imagining this.

"Robin," she uttered in warning when she felt his touch, though she did not move away, powerless to fight the wonderful sensation of his fingers running through her dark tresses. He was ashamed of this, of the fact that he was using the way he affected her to keep her close to him, but after everything that had happened in the last hour or so, the desperation and the pain gnawing at his heart had multiplied, and Robin couldn't bring himself to curve the need he had to hold her, touch her, _feel _her. Walking around her so he could face her, he let go of her hair to bring both of his hands down and hold hers at their sides, and she could see the despair in his eyes, could sense it in the way his grip tightened when she sighed into the space between them. It was like he had been bottling up all this anguish and Roland's momentary disappearance had unleashed it, to the point where he was now barely holding it together.

Without asking, without even pausing to gauge her willingness to what was happening, he took her face in his hands and slowly brought their lips together again, his tongue begging for passage that was instantly granted when he bit on her bottom lip, eliciting the sweetest of sounds from her mouth and into his. It was fire, pure, white-hot fire that burned deliciously through both of their bodies, and he couldn't bring himself to stop, he needed her too much. The moment became more passionate as his arms snaked around her torso, bringing her flush against him as he devoured her, and she arched herself up against him, hands grasping the lapels of his jacket forcefully as she did her best to keep up with the hot and heady dance of their lips. He had never kissed her like this before, with all this raw emotion pouring out of him, and Regina found herself becoming addicted to it in seconds, never wanting to let him go. But she had to, her mind told her, she had to let go, because she didn't deserve him, because he had a wife that she had tortured, because he deserved better than having the Evil Queen for a soul mate.

Robin tasted the salt of her tears as she let them fall, her lips becoming softer, trying to coax him back into a slower rhythm so that it would be easier for her to stop. The kiss turned into something languid then, more familiar, and his arms let go of her so that his fingers could once again dive into her hair, his thumbs caressing her cheekbones as he placed tiny pecks on her lips, drawing out their exchange as much as he could. When they finally pulled away, his hands did not move from their position even as he touched his forehead to hers.

"I miss you," he breathed when they parted, his grip growing firmer in order to tilt her head up to look into his face, making sure she couldn't hide from him again.

There was something in Robin's eyes when Regina looked into them, some kind of determination, like the wheels were turning in his head and he was gearing up for some sort of significant declaration, one that she did not want to hear, because while she had promised Henry that she would get over her heartbreak and not allow herself to become an empty shell again, she wasn't sure she could withstand another goodbye from the man in front of her.

"I—"

"Please don't," she spoke over him, her voice trembling, tears leaking from her eyes and down her cheeks before he wiped them away with his thumbs.

His resolve had cracked. This was it, he would tell her. It wasn't the time, or the place, or the appropriate situation, but he didn't care, not anymore. He had wanted to wait, wanted to do the honorable thing and speak to his wife first, settle things with her before he declared his undying love and devotion to another woman, but all it took was that moment of having Regina passionately surrender herself to him again and all caution flew out the window. He would deal with the consequences as they arose, but he needed to tell her _now_, he had to.

"Regina," he said in what was barely more than a rasp, and when her eyes snapped back up to him, he could feel tears forming in his own.

"I lo—"

"Papa?" a sleepy voice interrupted their moment, and Robin instantly broke out of his haze and fled to his son, wrapping him in his arms and hugging him tight, murmuring frantically in his ear.

"Don't ever do that to me again, young man," he said sternly as he put the boy back down on the floor and stayed there with him, holding him. Regina was glad for the interruption, breathing a sigh of relief when she was no longer pinned under Robin's disarming gaze. She had no idea what he had been about to tell her, but she was sure it couldn't have been good. That kiss had felt like a desperate farewell, and she couldn't handle having all those feelings put into words, not again.

"I'm sorry, papa," Roland said, his voice muffled against his father's jacket, and Robin held him closer when he cried out a desperate, "but please don't take me back."

"Roland—" he began, but the boy was already shaking his head, tears forming in his eyes.

"I don't want mama to make me not see Regina, papa," he begged, and Robin pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, eyes closing as he tried to figure out a solution that would make his son more agreeable to the idea of going home, without having to lie to him.

"Son, your mother needs help understanding that Regina is a good person now, that she's not a villain," he said cautiously, and Regina gasped behind him, still not used to hearing those words, "I need you home with me so you can help me explain," he added.

"But what if she's still mad after we explain? Will she stop me from seeing Regina then, too?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but we need to try to convince her together, otherwise she won't listen. Are you okay with coming home with me and explaining to your mama what Regina is really like?" he asked, and Roland gave a pouty nod before running to Regina and hugging her legs as hard as his little arms would allow.

"See? Papa's gonna help me fix it! And then I can come see you all the time! We're gonna be okay!" he said, comforting her again, as always, and in truth she had needed that reprieve, had needed that little bit of hope that this beautiful boy never failed to plant in her.

"I told you it would be okay, didn't I?" she said, smiling tearfully at him before she walked to the kitchen and set about putting the leftover chicken pot pie they'd had for dinner in a container for him to take home, leaving Robin in the living room alone with his son.

"Don't ever run away from me again, Roland," he begged the boy, "do you have any idea how worried I was?! Things are dangerous right now, I thought something awful had happened to you."

"I'm sorry, papa," he said again, hugging his father around the neck, and Robin breathed in the soft smell of his hair, basking in his presence, "but I was scared, I didn't want mama to keep Regina away."

"Roland, do you love Regina?" Robin asked, already knowing the answer and chuckling when his son nodded fervently.

"I'm her knight," he said, as if that explained it.

"Of course you are," Robin agreed, "and does Regina love you?" he asked then, to which Roland nodded even faster.

"Uh huh, she told me when she was sick, and then she told me again before you got here."

"Well then, if you love her and she loves you, no one can take her away from you."

"Really?!" he asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Really. I will talk to your mother, and we will find a way to make this work, alright?" Robin whispered, and Roland beamed, hugging his father.

"Papa?" he then asked, voice muffled by Robin's jacket once more.

"Yes, my son?"

"Do you love Regina, too?"

There was a time Robin would've been taken aback by the question, nervously second-guessing every moment he'd spent with her, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was he felt for Regina. Not anymore, though. The answer came to him easily now.

"Yes, I do. I love her very much," he whispered in his son's ear, reveling in the warmth that spread through him as he voiced the depth of his feelings for her, "but I've yet to tell her."

"When _will_ you tell her?" Roland asked then, pulling back to look at his father, and Robin smiled at the impatient gleam in his son's big brown eyes.

"Soon, my boy, very soon. But until then, do you think you can keep the secret?" he asked, and Roland nodded enthusiastically, as he always did when an adult entrusted him with something no one else knew.

Regina appeared by the doorway again then, carrying the plastic container with leftovers that Roland happily took from her, telling his father all about the yummy food Regina had made for him and making him promise he would try it when they got home. Robin was glad to comply, assuring his son he would no doubt be having a taste as soon as they got home.

"Thank you, again," he said to Regina as he neared the door, taking her hands in his and squeezing as he exhaled in relief at having his son back.

"Any time," she replied withdrawing her hands from his grasp and pinning them at her sides, her fists clenching as she resisted the urge to pull him to her. Their kisses had left her far too vulnerable tonight, almost rendering her unable to control the way her body craved him, but she endured, merely smiling at him as he opened the door and stepped outside with Roland.

A gust of ice-cold wind blew into the house suddenly, making them all stumble backwards. When Regina managed to steady herself and see what the hell had just happened, she saw a figure lurking by her apple tree. Her face was pale and glowing in the moonlight, her dress the lightest of blues and so smooth it looked like it was made of glass, with icicles acting as gemstones on the bodice and accenting her thick, blond braid. Regina gasped.

Elsa had come for her.

"Robin, take Roland back inside the house, now!" she said to him urgently, stepping in front of them and addressing the ice queen.

"Elsa, stop. Let me help you! Together we can find a way to control your powers," she pleaded.

"Control my powers? Please, we both know all you want to do is kill me!" she huffed with disdain as she looked past Regina to Robin as he stood behind her, and Regina frowned in surprise at her venomous tone.

"Kill you? Why would I want that?! Elsa all I want to do is help you control this so that no one gets hurt," she howled over the wind, which seemed to pick up the angrier Elsa got. Snow had started to fall heavily on her garden, covering the apple tree in seconds, and Regina then noticed that the streets around the house were being coated in a thin sheet of pristine ice.

"Regina!" Robin pulled on her arm, trying to get her to stand behind him. He would not let this sorceress attack the woman he loved, not again.

"Go inside!" she hollered back, pushing him away from her and back through the front entrance while she stood guard right outside it, using her magic to render him immobile so that he wouldn't leave the safety of the manor. But then, Elsa waved her hand, and with horror Regina realized the ice queen's target had never been him.

Roland floated out of the house, tendrils of icy wind carrying him even as he kicked his little legs as hard as he could to try and free himself, screaming for help.

"He has nothing to do with this! He's just a boy, let him go!" Regina said, anger seeping into her now. Confused young witch or not, _no one_ harmed Roland and got away with it.

"No, actually I think I'll keep him," Elsa threatened, the boy now in the grasp of her left arm while her right loomed up above him, hand aimed at his head, ready to strike should Regina so much as move a muscle.

"Surrender to me, and he lives," Elsa said then, smiling wickedly at her, but Regina could see the desperation in her eyes, and decided to play on that.

"Listen, I know you're lost and sad and confused, but you don't have to harm a child. We can fix this, Elsa! We can control your powers."

"I killed my own sister! Do you think I would've let that happen if control was truly possible?! All love did was act as a crutch, and I became dependent on it, on needing love in order to control them. Well, that's over now, I don't love anything or anyone, I have nothing to lose, but you, _your majesty_, you could lose everything if I just flick my wrist." The way she spat her title told Regina that Elsa now knew who she was up against, knew Regina had magic.

"Tut, tut," Elsa admonished calmly, a sneer on her face as she looked down at Regina's hands, both of which had begun to conjure fireballs, "if you so much as aim one of those at me, I will freeze every bone in your lovely boy's body."

Roland was crying during the entire exchange, heaving and coughing through his desperate screams for help. Robin had been freed from his magical hold once Regina was too distracted to maintain it, and he ran towards them, yelling out his son's name and trying to find something, _anything_ that would help bring down Elsa, but the witch was faster, aiming a smack of ice towards him, knocking him out.

"Robin?! Robin!" Regina yelled, trying in vain to get a reaction out of him as she sank to the floor beside him and patted his cheeks.

"Surrender _now_, and the boy lives," Elsa taunted the queen, whose lip was now curled in anger.

"LET. HIM. GO!" Regina barked, her hands forming fireballs again as she tried to find a good target point that wouldn't hurt Roland, but she didn't know for how long the fire would stop Elsa (or if it even would). If she didn't have a clear shot into an area she knew would at least make the ice queen pass out, Regina could do nothing.

"Surrender! Give up this foolish attempt at stopping me, let _me_ rule this place, and your son will be returned to you."

"Papa!" the little boy cried as he saw his father begin to stir, but his voice was trembling from the cold that was seeping from Elsa's grasp and into his body.

"Fine!" she finally agreed, "I surrender, do whatever you want with me but please, let him go!"

At her words, Elsa allowed Roland to spring free, let him run towards Regina and hug her.

"Go with your father," she urged him, sending him in the direction of Robin, who was mumbling and coughing from where he lay on the floor, still disoriented and in pain. She then turned back to Elsa, a defiant look in her eyes as she walked further outside her house and stationed herself closer to the sorceress.

"Alright, Elsa of Arendelle, do your worst," she barked at her, and Elsa smirked, her eyes wild and diabolical for a fraction of a second. It would've been unnoticeable to anyone else, but Regina had seen it, recognized it for what it was, and she felt a pang of sadness at seeing Elsa giving in to her darkness, a path Regina knew all too well.

Before Elsa could attack, the loud boom of a gun filled their ears, and Regina turned in time to see David and Emma clumsily running towards them over the ice in the streets, trying their hardest to get to Elsa before she could do any more damage.

"Get away from her!" Emma snarled, pointing the gun at the ice queen.

"No, I don't think I will," Elsa replied, a devilish grin on her face as she eased her hand back and then pushed it forward, a giant tornado of ice and snow erupting from the ground, separating Regina from the others so that they couldn't interfere.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Regina urged, and Elsa once again opened her palm in front of her, creating ice shards that began to fly in every direction, some of them hitting Regina and wounding her, making her fall, the snow cushioning the crash of her knees against the floor.

"You win! Is that what you wanted to hear? Now do whatever it is you want to do with me and leave these people alone! No one else needs to die!"

Elsa did not reply, looking down at her hands, enraptured in the way the deadly blow of ice she was about to use on Regina seemed to swirl from her palm in an almost happy dance.

Looking at the queen, Elsa aimed the heavily charged bout of energy towards her, and released it.

* * *

**_Please don't hate me.  
_**

**_Have a great weekend!_**

**_-B_**


	16. Chapter 16

_**It's premiere week! And to celebrate, I'm giving you 3 updates today! Keep an eye out for the next two chapters after this =)**_

_**PS: Not mine**_

* * *

**Chapter 16  
**

* * *

It happened fast, faster than any of them had thought possible. One minute Elsa was sending her crackling blow of ice to Regina and the next, Roland had jumped in front of her, blocking the spell, taking the hit instead of letting it claim her.

Regina stumbled further into the ground as Roland's body smacked against her and became heavier by the second, less soft hair and chubby cheeks, more hard edges and rock solid skin.

"No!" she screamed at Elsa, "what have you done?!"

The ice queen gasped, realizing that she had hit the boy. He'd jumped in at the last minute to protect his mother, and now he would die for it. Elsa was horrified.

"No, no, no, no, no, you're gonna be okay, you'll be fine," Regina whispered against his hair as the hurricane of ice, wind, and snow stopped swirling violently around them, settling somewhat and allowing the others to come closer. Elsa's wide eyes were focused on Roland, whose face had started to go blue, his hands slack and heavy against Regina's body.

"Roland why did you do that, why?!" she asked frantically, tears streaming down her face and into his as she held him.

"I…" he struggled to speak, his teeth chattering together, his whole body shaking, "I'm your… knight… I pro… protect you."

His words had Regina sobbing as Robin crawled through the thick blanket of snow that covered every surface in sight until he reached them, taking his son in his arms, begging him not to close his eyes and leave him forever.

"I'm so sorry, I… she said you'd kill me with dark magic if I didn't get rid of you… I was only trying to survive, I never meant to harm your son, I only wanted to scare you so that you'd surrender," Elsa babbled as she walked closer, her fight leaving her and making her look more like the scared young woman she was than the imposing ice witch that had invaded their lives, but Regina couldn't be accepting and understanding, couldn't even bring herself to correct Elsa's assumption that Roland was her son, not now when the boy lay dying by something this foolish girl had done.

"Get the hell away from him!" she snarled instead, leveling Elsa with the angriest of looks and using her magic to blow her against the apple tree, and the blonde then fell to her knees on the floor, putting up no resistance as Emma and David handcuffed her.

"Papa?" Roland asked, still nestled in his father's arms.

"Yes, my son?" Robin answered, his voice trembling as tears blurred his vision.

"I think you sh… should tell her now," his voice was a mere breath as he spoke, but his smile was there, that lovely dimpled smile that had given Regina hope and life when she hadn't thought she'd have either of those again. It fizzled out slowly, dimples disappearing as Roland passed out, his whole body getting colder, his lips turning purple.

"Roland? Roland! Come back to me, my boy, come back!" Robin yelled at his son, and Regina wept at the sight, still kneeling in front of them. And then a high-pitched cry was heard from behind them, and they turned to see Marian sprinting towards Elsa through the snow.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON?!" she bellowed at the girl, and Elsa's eyes widened.

"_Your_ son?! But you said… I saw them together and I thought—"

"Well, you thought wrong! That is _my _boy, not hers, you got the wrong child and you've killed him! You've killed my baby!" Marian screamed, slapping Elsa's face and then launching at her, only to be stopped by David, who made his way over to them and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her away.

"You… you _told_ her to harm Henry?" Emma asked, having caught the entire exchange and understanding what had happened. Regina and Robin were still trying to wake Roland, with Regina aiming magical warmth from her hands and into his body, but it was no use.

She couldn't allow this to happen, could not let this wonderful little boy die protecting her, it wasn't fair. Gearing herself up, she felt her magic, both light and dark, pulsing, bristling at her fingertips, and then she put her hands to Roland's chest and pulled the cursed cold from him, letting it seep into her, as it was meant to. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marian pass out at the sight, David catching her before she fell into the snow.

Robin gasped, not understanding what was happening until Roland's little cheeks flushed with color again and his breathing evened out. The sob that escaped him as he hugged his boy was one of both relief and despair.

The effect was instant, pain gripping through her as the ice took over her body, invading her veins, and Robin realized with horror what she'd just done. Peeling off his jacket and rolling it up, he softly laid Roland's head on it as he recovered and ran to Regina.

"No," he said fervently as he lifted her a little, propping her up against him, one hand cradling her head while his other arm draped over her middle and held on tight, choking on the words, "you cannot do this to me." Not again.

"Robin," Regina rasped, raising her hand feebly to cup his cheek.

"You!" he shouted at Elsa, who was staring at Regina with something akin to admiration in her eyes, "how do I fix this? How do you stop it?"

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "there's no way to control it, I can't stop it."

"Yes you can, and you will, you will stop this _now_!" he screamed as Emma and David watched everything unfold, Emma's gun still nervously pointed at Elsa while David held on to an unconscious Marian.

"I'm so sorry," Elsa said again, lifting her hands and sighing in defeat, tears rolling down her cheeks. Robin turned back to Regina, who he now realized was calling his name again.

"It's okay," she told him, a small smile on her lips, and Robin could've shaken at her, because how dare she smile at him and say it's okay when she's dying in his arms?!

"Roland's safe, that's what matters," she rasped, her eyes calm and hazy, and Robin could feel as her body turned cold under his hands, her skin growing chilly to the touch.

"No, you're not dying, do you understand?! I love you, and you are not allowed to leave me," he sobbed, feeling the force of his statement as he finally uttered the words that had been eating at him for days now, but Regina didn't seem to grasp the significance of his declaration. She continued to smile at him, her eyes rolling back in her head, and a puff of breath escaped her as she finally collapsed against him.

"Regina?" Robin asked, moving her a little to try and get a reaction out of her, "Regina!" he yelled again, but she remained limp and cold in his arms, much like the last time this had happened.

"Regina?" Roland's voice penetrated the cloud of desperation his world had turned into, and Robin then felt his son crawling over Regina's body, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing his hands up and down her arms, as if the warmth he was providing her would wake her, and something about the sight made Robin sob louder, clutching Regina more firmly against him, one hand lost in her hair, clenching hard there, anchoring her to him as much as he could.

"But I protected her, why isn't she waking up, papa?" Roland asked, oblivious to what had happened, and while his son's questions continued and grew more and more desperate, Robin couldn't bring himself to answer, too crippled by his grief to think of possible excuses for the boy.

"She's still got a pulse, but it's weak. We're losing her," Emma said when she pressed two fingers to the queen's neck, turning back to Elsa.

"Regina said you were able to control your powers once, how?" she asked brusquely.

"True love, it... it's the most powerful magic of all, it can break any curse... true love will thaw a frozen heart," Elsa recited, almost as if she was talking to herself, submerged in her tortured thoughts.

"True love will thaw…" Emma pondered, and then, "wait a minute, she saved Roland, that was an act of true love, why the hell is she still dying? There's something you're not telling us, out with it!" she snapped, but Elsa shook her head, showing Emma her palms as she raised her hands in surrender, assuring her that she didn't know anything else.

"If what you say is true, then why is her heart still frozen? Why won't she heal?!" Emma fired back, and something dawned on Robin as he heard her words from where he'd been crying against Regina's neck, his arms shaking with the effort to keep her tight against him.

"Because she doesn't have her heart," he answered Emma's question, his voice barely above a whisper.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"She doesn't have her heart. She took it out when we… she doesn't have it," his mind was racing now, trying to figure out how this could help them save her.

"If she doesn't have her heart, then what is the ice doing to her?" David asked from where he stood holding an unconscious Marian.

"If… if the ice doesn't find a heart in which to anchor itself, I… I don't know what it will do, I've never encountered someone without a heart before," Elsa replied in a choked sob, but there was an apprehension in the way she spoke, a hesitance, that Emma noticed right away.

"She's in pain, isn't she?" she asked, and Elsa nodded somberly.

"Emma, take her, I'll be right back," Robin said with determination then, gently easing Regina's body into Emma's lap as he tore back into the house, stepping over fallen picture frames and broken glass until he reached her study. In a frenzy, he began to search, opening every box, upturning every chair and looking into every nook and cranny in the place until finally, after moving an intricately decorated mirror to the side, he discovered the safe. It was sealed shut, but opening these things was his specialty. While the lock might be more modern and different from the ones he was used to breaking into, the principle was the same, and so it took Robin no time to figure out the combination of the safe by putting his ear to it and turning the little wheel to this side and that, listening for the resounding click of the lock as it finally gave way.

His blood pumped hard enough to create resounding thumps in his ears as he grabbed the small wooden box with its complicated ornamental carvings, feeling the faint, rhythmic beat coming from inside it. As he removed the lid, he gasped at the sight. Robin knew he'd never get used to looking at her heart, at how worn out it seemed to be, how strong it beat despite all odds. It mesmerized him, and when he gently grasped it in his hand, a warm, fluttery feeling spread through him, something he could only describe as sunshine spreading through his veins, and he knew what he must do.

Robin returned to Emma moments later, his eyes finding his son now cradling Regina's hand to his cheek as he cried silently, and the sight made something clench in his chest before he knelt down in front of them, telling him it would be alright.

"We can save her Roland, I know we can," he said, and the boy looked at him with such hope that Robin faltered for a moment, praying to anyone and anything that this would work.

"Be careful," Emma warned, but her eyes were shining with hope, just like Roland's.

Slowly, Robin placed Regina's heart over her chest, just as he'd done the last time, when she'd sat still and waited for him to guide the organ back into her. Giving it a gentle push, he watched it glow brighter, the red and black forming a stunning display of light and color as it began to sink into her body, until finally the glow was gone and Regina's heart was back where it belonged. She didn't move, not even a flicker of her eyelids or a flinch of her fingers, and Roland looked up at his father in worry.

"Papa, when will she wake up?" he asked, but Robin didn't answer, leaning towards Regina and planting a soft kiss on her cold, cold lips before moving to whisper in her ear.

"I love you. Please, come back to me."

Emma had to look away, the moment so intimate that she felt like she was intruding, but she couldn't move, not with Regina nestled on top of her. But then Robin was easing her out of her hold and back into his, one hand around her back to raise her up towards him, the other tracing her face as her skin started to regain its smoothness.

Regina's eyes opened as she gasped for air and arched up off Robin, her hand flying to her chest as tears began to stream down her face. She had no time to recover before Roland was hurling himself at her, burying his head in the crook of her neck and shouting "you're awake, you're awake!" against her skin, Robin merely letting a relieved sob break out of him as he watched them, and it was like life had been returned to him as well.

"I'm okay, I'm alright," she kept telling the boy, her hand carding through his hair as she looked down at herself and then around her, as if wanting to make sure she really was alright and that she wasn't lying to him. Her eyes then fell on Robin, his tear-streaked face looking back at her with a huge smile, fire burning in his eyes. Without realizing what she was doing, Regina used the hand that wasn't holding Roland to cup the man's cheek, more tears building in her eyes as she gasped out a "thank you," and let him put his arms around her and his son, hugging them tightly while the others watched.

Marian took in the scene with wild eyes, having just recovered from her fainting spell, and before David realized it, she ran towards her husband and son, sinking to her knees in front of Roland and hugging him tightly, even as he muttered a muffled "mama, I'm fine," against her cloak. Marian said nothing, dry sobs escaping her as she hugged her son tighter, the full extent of what she had almost caused catching up with her, and she looked up to find Emma staring daggers at her on one side, Robin glaring on the other. It seemed he, too, had heard her screaming at Elsa earlier.

"You did this," he spat, and she flinched at his tone.

"Robin, please understand, I just wanted—"

"Just wanted to what? Have that girl murder Regina's son so you could prove a point?! You put that boy's life at risk, you put _our _boy's life at risk!" he was livid now as he realized the danger she had put them in, how Roland could've died over a simple misunderstanding thanks to Marian's manipulation of Elsa.

"I'm sorry, I told her just to scare you, never to harm anyone," she said, looking at Regina now, but the queen gave her nothing more than a blank stare in return, "I never meant for anyone to get hurt, least of all my baby boy," she wept, still holding Roland, who was trying to wiggle out of her grasp, and Regina's look shifted, not to anger or hatred, but to mere pity.

"Leave, Marian. I can't even look at you right now," he said, turning his back to her and setting his eyes back on Regina, his expression softening as he took her in, ignoring Marian's sobs as David gently grabbed her arm and led her away.

"You guys think you'll be alright now?" Emma's voice said from behind them, and Robin nodded at her as he asked how they'd known to come here.

"It started snowing all of a sudden, we figured something had gone down and Regina would need our help."

"Thank you," he said, and Emma waved it off.

"Not a problem."

"What will you do with her?" he asked then, tilting his head towards Elsa, who was still on the ground, looking at them with fear and apprehension in her eyes.

"I don't know yet, but she looks pretty shaken, I don't think she'll harm anyone now. I'm taking her to the station with me, you guys need some time alone."

"You should tell Henry what happened. Bring him over when you're done at the station? He'll want to see his mother, and she him."

"You got it," Emma agreed before helping Elsa to her feet and steering her away. Robin then turned to Regina, his hand easing into the hair at the top of her head, his thumb rubbing back and forth over her brow.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Tired… cold," she admitted, more aware of the snow that drenched her clothes now that the adrenaline and the intensity of the moment had started to ebb away.

Robin instantly lifted her in his arms, even after she insisted that she was perfectly fine to walk, but truth be told, he didn't want to let go of her. Not now, not ever.

Roland trailed behind them with his father's rolled-up jacket in his hands, closing the door after them and following Robin up to Regina's room, turning his face away while his father took off her wet clothes and replaced it with dry pajamas.

She was still trembling even after Robin had wrapped her in cozy blankets and the comforter in her bed, so Roland dropped Robin's jacket by the door and climbed up on the soft mattress, snuggling against her to help her warm up and hugging her tightly, as if still trying to convince himself that she was okay.

"You saved me," she said to Roland, her voice shaky, teeth chattering.

"It's what knights do," he whispered proudly in her ear, and Regina chuckled against his head, simply holding him until he fell asleep with his head now burrowed into her side, drained from the chaos of the day, his even breaths blowing his curls out of his face. Robin itched to touch her, but refrained as he settled on the chair next to the bed, not saying anything, merely looking at her as she eased Roland into the pillows and ran her fingers through his hair.

* * *

_**Some of you were awfully close in your guesses of what would happen so kudos to you!**_

_**When I started writing this, I intended for it to be Robin to take the hit (predictable, I know), but back then I didn't really plan for Regina and Roland's relationship to develop this far so this wasn't a scenario I had considered, but their dynamic turned out to be one of my favorite things to write so him being the one to save her just kinda came out, and I liked it. That said, we all know Regina wouldn't have let him die for her ("nothing's worth the loss of a child") so of course she had to take the ice for herself... and yes, what saved her was definitely a combination of both her sacrifice for Roland and Robin's love for her when he kissed her, I couldn't make it strictly one thing or the other because I feel like both things define Regina equally.**_

_**I hope you liked the twist!**_

_**Chapter 17 coming right up!**_

_**-B**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Not mine**_

* * *

**Chapter 17  
**

* * *

Regina had experienced her fair share of pain – Cora and Rumplestiltskin had seen to that-, but nothing could have prepared her for the horrible feeling of the ice seeping into her bones, draining her of energy and life and any inkling of warmth in her. It hurt like nothing ever had before, and while she hadn't shown it when muttering her reassurances to Robin, inside she was begging for death, hoping against hope that some god would hear her and take her away, because she was sure she wouldn't be able to stand another second of that torture. But then she'd felt something different as she drowned in the sea of cold, unrelenting torture, something calm and terrible all at once, and even though she felt her body give in and stop responding, her mind was as acute as ever, and she knew what was happening. Someone –_Robin_, she'd told herself, it had been Robin- put her heart back in her chest, and it instantly absorbed all the ice, vaporizing it with the strength of the sacrifice she'd made for Roland and the array of feelings that Robin poured into her with that soft, soft kiss he'd laid on her lips.

Having her heart back had intensified her emotions, heightening her suffering for the first time in weeks, so while his words could be the remedy to all that pain, she hadn't wanted to acknowledge them, dreading that they were borne out of desperation and grief rather than his actual feelings.

"I meant what I said," he told her quietly, as if reading her thoughts, and she turned to look at him in surprise.

"I can see the wheels turning in your head from here," he said with a shrug and a smile, and she could see that he was trying to appear calm for her sake, but there was a storm brewing in his eyes, she noticed it the second he inched closer and put his hand on top of hers on the bed.

Robin took a second to try and put his thoughts in order, marveling at the magnitude of his feelings. He didn't care that Regina had killed Marian in another life, didn't care that she had been evil enough to end the life of an innocent woman and who knows how many others to get her revenge. At first, he had felt guilty for thinking that way, because on some level he knew that the logical thing was for him to be angry, to despise her for taking away his wife and the mother of his child, but that entire scenario had been destroyed by Emma's trip back in time, so the fact was that while Regina might've been the one to kill Marian in the past, she was no longer guilty of that crime.

Not that any of this really mattered, because once he had realized and embraced how he felt about her, Robin knew that even if the events of the original timeline had prevailed and he had found out about Regina's role in his wife's death, he would still love her. It would have been difficult, and both of them would've been hurt far worse than they had in the current turn of events, but he was certain he'd love her anyway, because her past actions didn't reflect on the person she was now, the person who'd saved his son from a flying monkey, from Elsa, the person who'd shown him a whole world of new opportunities for happiness, the person that had become everything to him.

"You were willing to die for my son," he suddenly said, his voice choked and desperate, and his gaze grew too intense for her to bear, so she turned away, withdrawing her hand from his grasp.

"I would never let him sacrifice himself for me," she stated after a long silence, her voice shaking as once again, she was struck by the significance of Roland's gesture, how he'd loved her enough to lay down his own life in order to protect her. She knew now that the ice would've eventually left him, as his had also been an act of true love, but that wasn't a risk she'd been willing to take, she'd had to save him, and she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

"He loves you," Robin said, startling her from her thoughts.

"I know," she replied with a tender smile.

"_I_ love you," he said then, and Regina gasped, but then immediately shook her head.

"No, you don't," she replied instantly, and Robin chuckled.

"I know you're a queen and you're used to bossing people around, but you can't tell me how to feel. I do love you, Regina," he said again.

"Stop saying that," she ordered, her voice trembling. Robin then got up off the chair, kneeling on the floor by the side of the bed and grabbing both her hands in his, kissing them as he looked up into her eyes.

"I love you," he said again. He would say it a million times if he had to.

"Stop," she repeated, and he shook his head, not letting her run from him when she squirmed and tried to move away.

"I love you."

"Robin, don't," she said once more as he raised himself up slightly and moved closer, cradling the sides of her face and wiping away the tears that were now rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to see it. It breaks me that I let you suffer when we could've avoided all this if I had only followed my heart from the start," he said, his hands still holding her, thumbs caressing her cheekbones as she looked at him.

"You're only saying all this because you're angry at Marian," she told him.

"No, I'm not. I've been wanting to tell you for days now, I just couldn't seem to find the right time. I wanted to clear things up with Marian first, tell her that it's not working between us because I don't feel about her the way I feel about you, but then all this happened and I just…" he trailed off.

"You just what?"

"I almost lost you today. Again. I suddenly realized it didn't matter where or how I said it, I just needed you to know."

"Robin—" she was about to push him away, he knew it, but he never gave her the chance, because suddenly he was climbing on the bed and bringing her face to his, his lips effectively shutting her up. He was slow and tender, meaning to show her the depth of his feelings, sighing into her mouth when after a few seconds, she finally responded in kind, giving in to the exquisite burn as it gripped her.

Regina felt like her body would explode from the contact, the presence of her heart intensifying everything. The warmth that erupted from his lips spread through her and made her nerves crackle like live wires with the raw energy he poured into her, and it only got more electrifying when his tongue finally made its appearance, slowly stroking hers as he held her tighter, closer. With Roland sleeping next to her and all the things they had yet to talk about, Robin didn't push for more, his hands never straying from her face and the hair at the nape of her neck, but there was a new, delicious quality to the way he was kissing her, like he never wanted to let go of her lips ever again, and she basked in it, gasping and moaning softly into his mouth.

The satisfied, wet sound of their lips against each other when they parted made him hum as he dropped his forehead to hers, smiling and pecking her mouth again quickly.

"Never again," he told her in a whisper.

"Never again, what?" she asked, worry coloring her tone, her hands gripping his elbows.

"Never again will I give you reason to doubt how much you mean to me."

"Robin—" she began, dropping her hands and looking at him sternly, but he stopped her before she could argue again.

"I'm not trying to be noble or courteous to you, Regina. I. Love. You. I will say it however many times it takes to convince you. I don't love Marian, I haven't for years, I love _you_."

"But—" she started, but he shut her up by quickly planting his lips on hers again.

"No buts, milady," he said as he pulled back, bopping her nose with the pad of his index finger and grinning at her.

"Robin…" she warned, sounding a little exasperated.

"Regina…" he replied in the same tone, making her take a deep breath before she spoke again.

"I… you once told me the reason you fell in love with Marian was because her heart was so pure," she said, and Robin thought back to their time in the Enchanted Forest, in one of the rare occasions they weren't hurling insults at each other. He remembered how headstrong she'd been, how she'd refused time and time again to open up to him, but then it had been Henry's birthday, and she'd needed someone. Roland had been asleep and therefore oblivious to her misery that night, but Robin had noticed it when he'd seen her walking the castle grounds, so he'd joined her and walked with her silently, waiting for her to speak. When she did, the floodgates had opened, and she'd relayed stories of her son to him while she cried, refusing his comforting touch, choosing to stand as far away from him as possible in the enclosed space of the gazebo they'd stopped at to talk. Robin hadn't minded though, he admired her strength, and he'd told her as much before he attempted to ease her apprehension over him and his intentions by regaling her with stories of his past, of how he'd fled the life of a lord in favor of helping the less fortunate, and of how when he thought all was lost, he had met a young noble maid while she picked flowers in the forest, had fallen head over heels for her because of her innocence, her love for life, her uncorrupted soul.

They'd been nice words to his ears, but now he was realizing that his story had only served to aggravate her pain after everything that had happened, making her think she didn't deserve anything good because she had done terrible things in her past.

"It's true, I did fall for her because of that—" he admitted after a deep breath, ready to explain further and ease her worries, but Regina spoke again before he could continue.

"Exactly. And now she's here, so how could you possibly want _me_? My heart is dark, poisoned by my past, every aspect of my life is a reflection of that," her voice was croaky, her tears never ceasing, and Robin smiled softly as he bent his head towards her, searching her eyes as he splayed one hand on her chest, the other resting across her knees.

"You forget, your majesty, that I've held your heart in my hands," he told her, the tip of his nose moving up and down to caress hers, "and it was strong, and brave, and beautiful… stunning in every way, just like you."

Regina was at a loss for words after that, and she sniffled, eyes downcast as she shook her head, but Robin wasn't finished. This was his fault and he had to remedy it _now_, had to make Regina see that he didn't love her because she was a hero or a villain, he loved her because she was _her_. Grabbing her teary-eyed face in his hands and tilting her up to look at him again, he planted yet another soft kiss on her lips, then one on the tip of her nose before he moved to the side and spoke in a low voice against her ear.

"I don't need your heart to be pure, Regina, I just need it to be mine," he told her, easing himself back to look at her, at the war going on inside her, completely visible in her eyes, her face tight with the effort of containing the happiness his words could give her, if only she'd allow herself to believe them. Guilt flashed in him over that, over the irreparable damage he'd caused by doubting his feelings for her.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked when she noticed his frown, not raising her voice so that the quiet around them remained undisturbed.

"You," he said simply, his thumb caressing her cheekbone again as he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers, "I'm sorry I made you believe you didn't deserve to be happy."

"Robin—" she began, but he stopped her.

"Don't. Don't try to tell me that you're over it, or that it doesn't matter, or that I had no part in you feeling that way, because we both know those are all lies. It _does_ matter, and I _did_ hurt you, and I am so sorry," he spoke in anguished whispers against her mouth, not realizing he was trembling until her arms moved to wrap around his torso, her lips planting a kiss on his jaw before she whispered soothing nothings into his ear, her hesitance taking a backseat to her need to comfort him.

"Apology accepted," she said after a few minutes. In truth, she had nothing to forgive him for, but if hearing those words from her was what it took for him to let go of this guilt that was eating him up from the inside, then she would say them.

The sigh of relief that erupted from him was a balm to her own battered heart, the way his shoulders sagged against her making her hug him tighter, threading a hand through his hair and running her nails through his scalp.

"That feels good," he moaned softly in her ear, moving to plant a kiss on the crook of her neck, and he remained there for a few minutes, enjoying her delicious scent and the softness of her skin until she pulled away to look at him.

"You love me." She'd meant to phrase it as a question, but it somehow came out as a statement of fact, one he all too happily reiterated.

"I love you," he said as he nodded, smiling at her. Regina looked down at where their hands had joined on top of the plush, cream colored comforter, his fingers playing with hers as he waited for her to speak.

"I love you, too," she finally murmured, her voice so low he thought he'd imagined it, but the way she was smiling as she looked up at him served to confirm he had indeed heard her correctly, and that's when he noticed it. The sparkle was back. That beautiful shining speck of light in her eyes that he had missed so terribly had now returned, proof that her heart was once again beating inside her, that she was fully feeling everything now, that she was _happy_. Robin beamed at her, bending closer and scattering reverent pecks against her cheeks, her temples, her neck, her hands when he brought them up to his lips, and she let out that soft little laugh he liked so much, that light and free and beautiful sound that he'd only ever heard her make when Roland did something to amuse her, and finally everything felt _right_.

"You love me," he said, mimicking her not-quite-a-question tone from before.

"I love you," she confirmed, giving him a smile so bright it could rival the sun. This time, she was the one to initiate the kiss, sucking at his top lip and wrapping her arms around his neck, arching into him when his hands began to roam her back under her shirt.

Roland stirred a little in his sleep, the reminder that he was still there effectively halting their movements, and Regina giggled at Robin's frustrated growl.

"Easy, tiger," she said as she patted his cheek, trying to make light of the situation, but the scorching look in his eyes made her voice come out husky and low, making Robin lean closer and bite her bottom lip as he hummed in reply.

"You should get some rest, it's been a long day," he told her after taking a few silent moments to simply look at her.

"You're leaving?" she asked when he moved to rise from the bed, and there was a hint of fear in the way she held on to his hand, so he hurried to reassure her.

"Just going downstairs to make you some tea. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," he said, smiling as he cupped her cheek with his hand, and she leaned into his touch, planting a kiss on his palm.

"I don't want tea, I just want you," she said, "please, stay?"

"With all due respect, your majesty, it seems the bed is already occupied by your knight and protector," he teased, looking proudly at his sleeping son, still snuggled against Regina.

"Come on, there's plenty of room," she told him, winking as she brought her hands to the hem of his shirt and lifted it slowly over his head, dropping a few kisses on his bare chest as she went, then grabbing the edge of the comforter and moving it so he could settle under it with her.

They lay on their sides facing each other, Roland nestled between them, his nose buried in Regina's pillow as Robin's arm draped across him and over her waist under the covers, hands tracing lazy patterns under her shirt while she looked at him.

"I love you, Regina," he muttered as he closed his eyes, sighing contentedly.

"I love you too, Robin," she replied as she softly skimmed her fingers over his eyelids, the bridge of his nose and then settled over the arm he had slung over them, her entire body tingling as she said the words. When she finally fell asleep, it was with a smile on her face.

* * *

_**See? I told you there would be fluff soon... Aren't they ADORABLE?!**_

_**Next chapter up in a bit!**_

_**-B**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**Not mine**_

* * *

**Chapter 18  
**

* * *

Emma sat in her leather chair at the Sheriff's station, nursing a coffee while she stared at the girl in the cell with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, and Elsa took a deep breath before looking up at her.

"That woman, the one who… who hit me… she came to me, told me the queen was on her way and that she was going to kill me, that she had powerful dark magic she intended to use against me…"

"That doesn't explain why you chose to attack a kid," Emma interrupted angrily.

"It was never my intention to harm the boy. She… she said the only way to get the queen to surrender was if she thought her son would get hurt," she pleaded.

"But you picked the wrong kid," Emma concluded, and Elsa nodded, hands clasped together, cradled against her chest.

"I saw you… when you went to get me. That woman—"

"Marian," Emma supplied the name.

"Marian. She was there before you arrived, to warn me. After she left I hid and I waited, I saw you when you got there and started looking for me and realized that she was right, you were there trying to find me and get rid of me, so I followed you back to the queen's mansion, I saw her with the boy and thought…"

"You thought Roland was her son."

"Yes."

"Did you ever stop to think about how bad a decision it was to engage a dark sorceress and threaten the life of a child?" Emma asked, her anger flaring.

"I… I'm sorry, I just wanted to stop her from killing me."

"She doesn't want to kill you, she never has. All she wanted was to help you control your powers. Marian lied to you."

"I realize that now, and I can't tell you enough how awful it makes me feel that I did what I did," Elsa told her, tears shining in her eyes and freezing into tiny icicles as they fell down her cheeks. Emma heaved a sigh, setting her coffee back on the table and getting up, grabbing the keys to the cell and walking towards it.

"I'm gonna let you out, but mark my words, if you harm a hair on my son's head, or anyone else in this town, it's not just Regina you're gonna have to deal with," she threatened.

"Your son?" Elsa asked, confused.

"Henry. He's Regina's son… and mine. It's complicated. Anyway, that's not the point," Emma shook her head, staring daggers at the ice sorceress, "the point is you are not to harm anyone else or I won't be so lenient next time."

"Understood," she replied, "do you think… can the queen really teach me to control it?"

"She seemed pretty sure about it, though I doubt she'll be wanting to help you now after what you did," Emma's dislike for Elsa's actions had not dwindled, but she could see that the girl was suffering, so she opened the cell and let her out, a hand on her gun in case she should need it.

"Thank you," Elsa said quietly.

"Well, I've dropped Marian off at Robin's place, she seemed pretty distraught," David's voice came from behind them as he walked in the door, holding a white cardboard box in his hand.

"Did you bring my bear claw?" Emma asked without turning to look at him, her eyes on Elsa.

"Yeah, here you—" David stopped short when he found Elsa outside her cell, standing awkwardly to the side, hands still entwined with each other.

"What are you doing, Emma? She almost killed Roland and Regina," he said, settling the box down on the desk slowly.

"She didn't know what she was doing and Marian took advantage of that. Doesn't mean we should prosecute the poor girl."

"She's a queen with magical powers who could strike at any moment. Get back in your cell," he threw at Elsa, and she shook her head, chin up as she spoke.

"I made a mistake, and I'm sorry, but I refuse to be bottled up again."

"You threatened my grandson and almost got a friend and a five year old child killed today, if I were you I'd desist from arguing right now."

"David… Dad," Emma said, putting a hand on his arm, "she was manipulated into doing this, she has no idea what's going on or how she even got here. Please just… chill."

"Chill?" David frowned at the nonchalant way Emma was approaching this.

"Yeah, calm down, eat a doughnut, we'll figure this out. Now, can you stay here with her for a while and treat her like a person?" she asked.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"I need to have words with Marian," Emma's tone hardened.

"Oh, of course. Go ahead," he said, but saw that Emma hesitated a bit, "don't worry, I won't be a jerk," he finished with a wink, and his daughter nodded, giving Elsa a small smile before she grabbed her red leather jacket and left the station. David then took Emma's vacated seat and opened the cardboard box he'd brought with him, offering Elsa a chocolate covered doughnut and gesturing to the seat on the other side of the desk.

"Now, Elsa… tell me everything."

* * *

"Give me one good reason not to open a portal right now and throw you back into the Evil Queen's dungeons," was Emma's greeting when Marian opened the door, finding the angry blonde on the other side holding a wand, the same one she'd used to open the portal that had brought them here.

"Emma, please don't—" she babbled through tears that had been falling for the past hour now.

"No," she interjected, cutting Marian off, "you don't get to ask for anything. I rescued you from that place, I brought you here so you could live, and in turn you threatened the life of my son?! Do you realize how insane that is?! You put my kid in danger and almost got yours killed in the process, all because you couldn't stand it that your husband –who's known you dead for _years_- had fallen in love with someone else in your absence?!"

"I was desperate and willing to go to any lengths to hold on to my family, surely you can understand that."

"That doesn't justify putting children in harm's way and manipulating someone who is as lost and confused as you were when you got here," Emma spat.

"No, it doesn't. Nothing justifies what I did. What happened at that house, my… my son being attacked, I don't… I can't ever forgive myself for that."

"Good."

"For what it's worth," Marian said then, trying to calm her rapid breathing, "I'm very sorry."

"Tell that to Regina, and to Robin, and your son, see if they'll forgive you."

"Is he… is Roland alright?" she asked, and Emma sighed.

"He's fine, he's at Regina's with Robin, they'll spend the night there."

"And the queen… how is she?"

"Alive and kicking, no thanks to you."

"She saved Roland," Marian breathed, looking down at the floor.

"And Roland saved her."

"He loves her, doesn't he?" she asked then, heartbroken at the very idea that her son didn't love her as much as he loved the queen.

"They both do," Emma replied, looking around uncomfortably, hands shoved in the back pockets of her jeans. She'd been so angry when she left the station that she'd had every intention of yelling at Marian for what she'd done, but seeing how broken she was, how sad and desperate it made her to not have her family back like she dreamed she would, it drained all the anger out of Emma. She couldn't forgive her for trying to use Henry to bring down Regina, but she found she didn't hate her either. Despite her actions, Emma realized that all Marian had wanted was to hold on to her son and husband, that she was hurt because they had found a new life without her, with the woman who'd imprisoned her, no less. It was a very complicated situation, one that Emma was glad to see somewhat resolved now that Robin had put his feelings for Regina out in the open.

* * *

She arrived at the Charmings' apartment to find her son asleep on the couch. She'd told Robin she'd take him to see Regina, but it had been a trying day, and she was loathe to wake Henry only to deliver news she was sure would scare him, so instead she let him sleep, making a quick call to Robin and leaving a message on his voice mail when he didn't answer, letting him know she'd be taking him to the manor first thing in the morning instead.

"Emma? Emma! Oh, I'm so glad you're alright, I've been so worried," Snow said as she descended the stairs hurriedly, pulling her daughter in for a quick hug.

"Your father called and told me what happened. How's Regina?"

"She's a little worn out but she'll be fine. Robin's with her," Emma answered, and she laughed when her mother smiled conspiratorially.

"Robin? Really? Huh… guess that's settled, then," she said, and Emma nodded.

"I'd say so… It's about time too, he's been pining after her since that day at the diner. He should've just told his wife from the get-go that he wasn't in love with her anymore."

"It was a hard decision to make, and he's a good man, it makes sense that he would want to honor his vows to Marian. Her actions are in no way his fault."

"I know, and I know she was just having a hard time with everything, but I can't forgive her for trying to put Henry in danger, and I have a feeling Regina won't be too kind about it either."

"We'll deal with it."

"Yeah," was all Emma replied.

"You okay?" Snow asked, recognizing the apprehension in her eyes.

"It's my fault," her daughter said.

"What is?"

"Everything? If I hadn't traveled through time, if I hadn't brought Marian back…"

"Emma, you saved her life, it's what you do, don't berate yourself for that."

"The person I saved was about to set an unpredictable and uncontrolled ice witch on my son."

Snow looked at her daughter, wanting to comfort her but, as always, feeling a little awkward about it. She wanted to hug her, rock her back and forth and tell her it was all going to be fine, but Emma was an adult, and soothing motherly affection wasn't something she was used to, so instead Snow limited herself to rubbing her daughter's arms up and down and smiling at her.

"It's an awful situation, but you saved an innocent woman from a terrible faith, you can't begrudge yourself that."

"If I hadn't saved her she wouldn't be here to threaten Henry by manipulating Elsa, who by the way would've stayed in her bottle in that vault if I hadn't screwed up."

"We all make mistakes, you can't focus on that, Emma. Everyone's fine, and Regina once again showed how much she's changed, that's always a good thing."

"She shouldn't have to prove herself anymore, she deserves better," Emma said, and Snow was surprised at the protective fierceness in her daughter's voice.

"I understand that you feel responsible, but you don't need to beat yourself up over something that you can't control," she said, but sighed in defeat, knowing that Emma's frustration wasn't something she could quell for the time being, so instead she told her, "Killian's in your room, he refused to leave until you came back. Go on, talk to him and try to get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning," and smiled, giving her another quick hug and heading back upstairs to the baby.

"David's staying at the station," Emma called after her, "he's keeping an eye on Elsa for the night."

"I know, he mentioned it when he called," Snow replied from where she stood at the top of the stairs, "from what he told me, it sounds like she's just another victim in all this."

"She is, but she's also dangerous. With powers that she can't control and Regina too weak to use her magic, we have to be careful," Emma said, and saw her mother nod before she wished her goodnight and walked out of sight.

* * *

Placing a kiss to her son's head, Emma grabbed a few spare blankets from the closet and covered him with them, making sure he was warm enough before she ventured into her room, exhausted.

"Finally!" Killian breathed in relief as he got up from her bed and ran to her, taking her in his arms.

"I'm fine," she told him, pushing away from him and removing her jacket.

"Your father said as much over the phone. Doesn't mean I wasn't worried, though," the pirate told her, giving her a small smile as he watched her walk into her closet.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her when she came out wearing her pajamas.

"No."

"Should I leave?" he asked then, noticing the hint of exasperation in her tone.

It took Emma a few deep breaths and long minutes of silence as she pondered his offer, and then she slowly shook her head, uttering a small "no" in a shaky breath as her shoulders started to shake.

"Oh, Swan," Killian said sympathetically, walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her again, holding her tight as her whole body trembled.

"Thank you for staying with Henry and Snow," she muttered against his chest a few minutes later.

"You were very adamant about wanting them to be safe, thought I'd lend a hand," he said, winking at her when she pulled back to look at him, and she gave him a watery smile, though no tears spilled from her eyes. Killian then raised his hand and let his fingers play with the ends of the lock of hair that had fallen over her cheek.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"No, but it will be," Emma told him, turning away from him and getting on the bed, letting him climb in after her and hold her until she fell asleep.

* * *

"Papa," a voice whispered in his ear, and he grunted in response.

"Papa," it said again, a tiny finger poking at his cheek.

"Roland, what did we say about disturbing my sleep before the sky's awake?" he grumbled.

"It _is_ awake, papa," the boy explained, and there was a bit of urgency to his voice and his movements as he tried to coax his father out of slumber.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked, opening his eyes and rubbing them before focusing on his son.

"Regina. She's hot," the boy said, worry clear in his eyes, and for a moment Robin was confused, which must've shown on his face, because Roland quickly clarified.

"I touched her face and it was really hot, look," he said, taking his father's hand and putting it on Regina's cheek. He was right, her skin was fire to the touch, and that spurred Robin into action, made him hurry out of the bed and walk to the other side so he could check on Regina properly. She was clammy and trembling at the same time, burrowing closer into the covers while beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

"Regina? Regina can you hear me?" he murmured by her ear, and she seemed to stir at the sound of his voice, a small smile on her face even as another shiver ran through her.

"Regina, open your eyes," he pleaded in a low, soothing voice, and seconds later, those beautiful brown orbs were staring back at him, though they seemed unfocused.

"I'm taking you to the hospital, come on," he told her, hooking an arm under her and using his other hand to drape her own arm across his back, but she was suddenly rigid against him.

"No, no hospital," she grumbled, turning away from him and burying herself in her covers, still shaking.

"You're running a very high fever, we need to have someone look at you."

"'m fine," she huffed lazily against her pillow.

"You're trembling and your skin feels like a stove."

"I'm cold," she said, and he bent forward to run his hands up and down her arms, but she flinched away from his touch, her skin a little too sensitive, making the contact uncomfortable.

"Regina, please let me take you to the hospital," he begged, but she shook her head again, decidedly bringing herself out of her haze. It was a difficult task, as her sleep-addled brain and the overall pains running through her body threatened to pull her under again, but she resisted, looking at Robin determinedly.

"There's no need, it's just a cold, I'll be fine."

"I think the past events are proof enough that you're not fine. Stop being so stubborn and let me take you to the hospital, please."

"No, I don't want to go back to that place, I hate it there. Please, Robin, don't make me," she begged, and it was so rare for him to hear her say 'please', to sound so needy, that he caved, nodding and running his hand through her hair when she let herself fall back on the bed. Her usually soft tresses were now matted and mussed, and Roland, who'd quietly been watching them, got up and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Are you really okay?" he asked her with a pout.

"Yes, dear, just need some rest," she replied with a smile, "and a bath."

"I hate baths!" he said, making her laugh lightly.

"Well, I love them. In fact, I think I'm going to have one right now," she said, getting up from the bed slowly, one of Robin's arms secure around the small of her back, the other bent in front of him so she could hold on to it as they walked to the bathroom.

* * *

**_Before you freak out, rest assured that while it won't be smooth sailing from here on out, the worst is definitely behind us._**

**_The next few chapters will focus tying some loose ends and having Robin and Regina reconnect._**

**_I'm heading out of town for a few days and won't have my laptop with me, so I don't know how many updates I'll be able to provide for you next Friday, but I'll try my best to make it at least two._**

**_Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the first ep of season 4!_**

**_-B._**


	19. Chapter 19

_**I only own the feels**_

* * *

**Chapter 19  
**

* * *

They left Roland watching cartoons in her room, and Robin set Regina by the edge of the tub, making sure her back was supported by the wall behind her so that she wouldn't fall while he drew a hot bath for her, pouring in some of the scented oils stored under the sink and then helping her undress, taking the time to place tiny kisses on her shoulders, her ribcage, her hands, the contact meant to be soothing and loving.

"You really don't have to do this," she said as he eased her into the tub. While he'd seen her naked before, she felt weak and sick and altogether unappealing at the moment, and it made her apprehensive about having him there.

"I want to do this," he told her, placing a kiss on the side of her head.

"You want to take care of a sick person?" she asked, her sass pouring out into her question despite her weariness.

"I want to take care of _you_," he retorted, and her face changed to mirror the tender expression she saw on his, unable to argue his words.

Once she was all the way in, Robin took her vacated seat at the lip of the tub, grabbing a sponge and sinking it into the water, then squeezing it over what was exposed of her back as she bent forward, her arms hugging her knees, head resting on them where they peeked over the surface. He became entranced by the way the water glided down her skin, by the little satisfied sighs she gave him when he helped her ease her head back and wet her hair, massaging shampoo into it and rinsing it out with tender movements of his hands, taking his time to show love and care to every inch of her as he helped her wash off. Not a word passed between them, both enjoying the comfortable silence and reverent touches, and when the water began to cool, he helped her get up, wrapped a big fluffy towel around her shoulders and dried her off slowly, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist when she leaned into him.

"Feel better?" he asked her in a whisper, and she nodded against his chest.

"I suppose two hits of magical ice were a bit too much for one week," she joked, smiling when he squeezed his arms tighter around her.

"Will you at least let me call Dr. Whale?" he asked then, "I'm worried about you, and I know this world has many medicinal substances that will help you feel better."

"I just need some antibiotics, no big deal. I have some I got from Whale before he discharged me from the hospital the other day," she left out the part where the reason she still had the pills was that she had refused to take them in the first place, "if you could grab me some water I can take them now?"

"Alright, but if that fever doesn't go down in the next hour I'm calling Whale," Robin said, kissing her forehead before he walked her to her closet and then headed downstairs while she got dressed.

Once he made sure Regina had taken the medicine and was comfortably cuddled in bed with Roland, Robin headed back downstairs to make them breakfast. The domesticity of it all acted as a shield against the anger he still felt over Marian's actions, keeping it down and hidden away as he enjoyed this blissful bubble they had created the night before, where nothing could rupture their happiness and the way they just _fit_.

Robin knew it was probably unfair to keep Roland away from his mother, but right now he didn't want to be near her, nor did he want her near Roland after she had shown such disregard for his and Henry's safety and stooped so low to achieve her goals. He'd have to talk to her at some point, he knew that, but right now he wanted nothing to do with her, wanted nothing to distract him from the beautiful woman upstairs, so instead he focused on putting breakfast together, setting up a tray of mini croissants he found in the kitchen, adding a small jar of jam, half a stick of butter, some cheese and apple slices on small plates to complete the meal, brewing some tea for him and Regina and pouring some orange juice for Roland. Truth be told, he could've whipped up something a bit more elaborate, but he was still worried about Regina and didn't want to leave her alone for too long, just in case she needed him.

The sight that greeted him as he reached the top of the stairs made him smile. The TV was off now, and Roland and Regina were curled up in bed, her arm around him while he played with a loose thread from the stitches of her comforter. They were talking in hushed voices, and Robin had to strain to hear from where he hid by Regina's bedroom door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he was asking her.

"It's just a cold, Roland, I'm fine."

"But you're still so warm," he said, palming her forehead diligently, and Robin felt a pang of worry run through him over Regina's current condition.

"I'll feel better in a bit, when the medicine starts to work," she smiled.

"Will I get sick if I hug you?" he asked her.

"No, sweetheart, this was produced by magic, it's not contagious," she told him, waving off his concerns, and a comfortable silence stretched between them as the boy huddled closer to her, his little arms wrapping around her middle, his head resting on her chest. Robin was about to walk into the room when Roland spoke up again.

"Regina?"

"Yes?"

"Did papa tell you?" he asked nervously, and she chuckled.

"Tell me what?" she asked in return.

"That he loves you? I thought I heard him tell you, but I'm not sure, the snow storm was so loud…" he replied in a low voice, nervous over whether he was outing his father's precious secret.

"He did tell me…" she said, easing his worries, "several times, actually," she added as an afterthought. Roland smiled tentatively.

"And you love him, too?" he asked her then, a sweet and hopeful look on his face. Regina took a deep breath before she answered.

"I do," she finally said, still sounding a little hesitant, as if voicing her feelings would give some invisible being the leverage it needed to take her happiness away.

"Really?" Roland enquired excitedly, getting out of her embrace and up on his knees so he could look at her when she confirmed it.

"Yes. I love your father very much, Roland," she said, and Robin felt his entire body tingle as she spoke. He would never get tired of hearing those words from her.

"Do you love him more than you love me?" the boy posed the question with worry in his tone, and Regina grinned at him, amused that he was jealous of his own father.

"It's… different. I love you like I love Henry, and I love your father like…" she trailed off, trying to figure out a proper example.

"Like he loves _you_? All kissy and stuff?" Roland asked when she went silent, and Regina nodded.

"Yes, something like that," she affirmed, chuckling when he scrunched up his tiny button nose in distaste, as if kissing someone was the yuckiest thing a person could do, but he seemed mollified by her answer.

Robin chose that moment to walk inside the room, trying to show no sign of having heard the conversation, but the bright smile on his face and the deliberate kiss he placed on his son's head gave him away, and Regina smirked at the self-satisfied look on his face.

"Don't flatter yourself, thief," she said, citing words she had spoken to him not long ago in the Enchanted Forest, when he'd caught her looking at him and had smugly asked if she liked what she saw, but this time her tone was different, teasing where it had once been disdainful; light and amused despite the weariness in her eyes. Robin set the tray on the bed and put a hand to her forehead.

"Fever's still high," he said with worry.

"It takes some time for the meds to work, be patient," she chastised as if to a child, and he shook his head in amusement before handing her a cup of tea from the tray and situating himself next to his son on the bed, buttering a croissant for him.

Regina had just started nibbling on a slice of apple when the doorbell rang, and Robin squeezed her hand when she tensed up in response.

"It's probably Henry, I told Emma to bring him."

"No," she began nervously, "he can't see me like this, he—"

"Regina, he'll understand."

"I promised him I'd come back, that I'd be okay, he's going to hate me when he finds out I almost left him."

"You know that's not true. He'll be glad to know you're safe, and he'll be proud to know his mother once again saved the day," he said, taking her hand and kissing it before he headed downstairs to open the door.

Sure enough, it was Henry who waited outside, with Emma standing awkwardly next to him. The boy did not even stop to greet Robin, merely dashed past him as soon as the door was open and ran upstairs, calling for his mom.

"I take it he was anxious to see her?" Robin asked Emma, who gave a humorless laugh at his quip.

"Tell me about it. He flipped when I told him everything."

"Is he alright? With what happened, I mean," Robin said.

"He's fine, just worried about her."

"She'll be okay, she's just a little sick, a side effect from all that magical ice, she's resting upstairs if you want to see her."

"I think it's best if I stay as far away from her as possible, don't want her throwing another fireball at me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"Maybe not now that you two seem to be back together, but she won't take kindly to me barging into her time with you and Roland and Henry, so just… tell her I hope she feels better soon, alright?"

"Will do," Robin replied, watching her walk away before he shut the door and went back up the stairs.

* * *

"Mom?" Henry's voice came from the doorway, timid and unsure, a complete contrast to the frantic way he'd shouted for her on his way up the stairs.

"Come here," she told him immediately, smiling when Roland moved away from her so that Henry could climb on the bed and hug his mother without anyone blocking his path.

"It's okay, Henry, I protected her!" the boy announced happily, and Regina nodded, her chin digging into her son's hair as she held him.

"I'm fine," she said.

"I know, Emma told me what happened. What you both did, thank you," he said, turning to Roland with a grateful glance and then throwing a weary one to Regina.

"You were going to die… on purpose," he accused in a hushed voice when Roland was once again distracted by the TV and his buttered croissant.

"Henry—"

"You were going to die to save Roland," he told her, a statement, not a question.

"Yes, I was," Regina replied, unable to find it in herself to lie to him. She was expecting him to lash out, to berate her for putting her life on the line yet again, so when he spoke again, his words startled her.

"I'm so proud of you, mom," he said, catching her off guard.

"You… you are?" she asked him.

"You're a hero, through and through," he answered with a smile, and then, "but don't ever do that to me again."

Regina chuckled, tears building in her eyes as she squeezed her son tighter against her.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she said, quoting Robin's words and planting a kiss on her son's head.

Noon came and went with all four of them at the manor, the boys huddled with Regina on the bed while Robin sat on a chair next to her. Never once did he stop touching her, his fingers skimming over her arm, her neck, threading in the hair at her nape, massaging her skin as they watched TV and played board games, none of them hungry enough to justify leaving the room to go get lunch. When Regina's stomach grumbled sometime after 5pm, however, Henry asked Roland to help him in the kitchen, and both of them skipped down the stairs excitedly, talking about what food they could make for Regina.

"How are you feeling?" Robin asked, turning the TV off and looking straight at her.

"Better, actually," she smiled, taking his hand and raising it to her face, pressing his palm to her forehead. Miraculously, she didn't feel as scalding to the touch as she had before, though she was still warm.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call someone to come check on you?" he asked, worry lacing his tone.

"Robin," she said sternly, "I'll be fine, now get on this bed and hold me."

He exhaled and obliged with a smirk, taking off his shoes and jacket and sliding his body under the covers, his arms holding her around the waist as she rested her head on his chest.

"I don't want this to end," she murmured against him after a few silent seconds.

"It won't, not again," he vowed, earning himself a tender smile from her.

"I meant I don't want to have to leave the house and deal with Elsa… or Marian," she clarified, and Robin sighed in response.

"Neither do I, but we ought to at some point."

"I know, I just…" she trailed off, burrowing closer to him.

"I know," he said, holding her tighter and planting a kiss on her temple, then another on her cheek, and then she tilted her head up and he was kissing her lips, the little moan that erupted from her feeding his desire and making him lean into her until she was flat on her back with him atop her, languid strokes of his tongue against hers making them both shiver.

"Mmm, you're still quite a good kisser," Robin said teasingly against her mouth, teeth grazing her bottom lip before he pulled back to smile at her, but that smile fell when he noticed she was frowning.

"What is it?" he asked, and Regina shook her head, trying to wave off her worries as silly and unimportant, but Robin cupped her jaw, running his thumb back and forth over her skin gently, and the concern in his eyes disarmed her.

"I just never believed this could happen, that you would choose _me_. I guess I'm still a little scared that one day you'll wake up and realize what you've done, who exactly it is you've chosen, and then you'll regret it." she admitted.

"You are not your past, and that is not going to happen," he promised, "there was never a choice, Regina, it's always been you. I was just… clouded by my sense of duty. I felt like I had to respect the vow I made to Marian, but that just made our marriage miserable, because I don't love her, I love _you_. I wish I'd realized that before I caused you so much pain," he told her, looking into her eyes as his hand continued its ministrations, stroking her cheek, playing with the ends of her hair. Regina gave him a watery smile and raised her hand up to skim her fingers over his eyelids, watching as they fluttered closed, his hand dropping from her face and leading his arm to grip around her waist again.

"I missed you," he breathed into the space between them, not bothering to open his eyes as his lips searched out hers, finding them as if on instinct, and the sweet warmth of her had him moaning softly as they kissed, her ragged breaths making him pull her flush against him where they lay on their sides on the bed, and he could feel her breasts pressing against his chest through the thin layers they wore, could feel the beat of her heart, safe and sound inside her chest, and it did things to him, creating a current of pleasure that shook his entire body.

"Gods, I want you," he rasped.

"Then have me," she replied, inching closer, but he shook his head as he rested his forehead against hers, their closeness making his nose rub against hers with the movement.

"You're sick and need your rest. And our sons are here," he reminded her, and Regina's petulant pout had him chuckling as he kissed her cheek.

"Patience, your majesty, we have all the time in the world," he said, letting his hand ghost up her back and to her front where her body was pressed against his, seeking out her breast under her shirt and squeezing, making her drop her head to his neck and whimper.

"You don't play fair," she admonished, and he laughed, running the pad of his thumb over her nipple before withdrawing his hand and sitting up on the bed, dragging her with him so that her head rested on his lap, his fingers playing with her hair, massaging her scalp.

That's how Henry and Roland found them when they got back upstairs, the tray Robin had used to set up breakfast that morning now laden with grilled cheese sandwiches that looked messy and delicious. They ate together, enjoying the quiet, easy atmosphere and exchanging silly smiles, but there were moments where the adults exchanged charged glances when they thought the boys weren't looking, their concerns left unsaid, stored away for when they were alone, but Henry noticed their worried stares and, seeing the need for his mother and Robin to have some time alone to talk, decided to intervene, asking Roland to come stay in his room so they could look at all his storybooks and maybe even build a tent with his blankets so they could sleep inside it. Roland, though excited, wasn't completely fooled, looking from Regina to Robin and back again before he asked,

"Grown up things again?"

"I'm afraid so," Regina replied, cupping his cheek and grinning at him, "but how about this, if I'm better tomorrow, I'll make pancakes for breakfast, and you can help," she offered, and he beamed and nodded eagerly before running out of her room and into Henry's.

"Good night, mom," her son said, kissing her cheek and nodding at Robin before he left the room as well, closing the door behind him.

* * *

**_I'm really trying as hard as I can to get this story done in the next two or three weeks so that I can post the remaining chapters for you all and then get started on the Titanic crossover, but I've just been hired in another city and I'm moving there in the next week or two so it's going to be hectic for a while. Don't worry though! Updates may come a day or two late but they will definitely happen. Moving to this city is something that is making me nauseous (I hate it there and really don't want to go) so this fic and this fandom are what keeps me going at the moment, I won't bail on ya._**

**_Again, thank you so so much for the support you've given my little fics, whenever I jump on Tumblr or Twitter or here and see that you've dropped me a line or two telling me how much you love my stories it makes me the happiest silly writer in all the land, you guys are amazing._**

**_I'll try to update again before Friday's regular update so that you have two more chapters this week, but I can't promise anything because of everything I just mentioned. I'll try, though!  
_**

**_Have a good week!_**

**_-B._**


	20. Chapter 20

**_Characters still not mine, sadly._**

**_Also, make note that the rating changes with this chapter... if you know what I mean _ ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 20  
**

* * *

Once the boys had scampered off to Henry's room, Robin watched as Regina gulped down some water to swallow another pill, scooting up on the bed to sit against the headboard.

"So…" she started.

"So," Robin replied, turning on his side and bending his arm under him, propping himself up on it so he could look at her.

"What are we doing?" she asked, still unsure, still second-guessing. He sought to tame her fears right away by leaning towards her, planting a searing kiss on her lips.

"I," he said as he parted their mouths with a wet pop, "am having a marvelous time," he dropped a kiss on her collarbone, "staying right here," a gentle bite to the crook of her neck, "tasting every," a peck on her lips, "last," another to her cheek, "inch of your delicious skin," he finished, loving the way her breath stuttered as he settled his body half on top of hers, a hand beginning a tantalizing trail up under her shirt, from her belly to the underside of her breasts.

"Robin," she accused between gasps, "you're trying to distract me."

"Is it working?" he rasped as he bit on her earlobe.

"Yes," she breathed, "but we really do need to talk about this," she said at last, pushing him away gently and sitting up on the bed again, looking at him with flustered cheeks.

"Regina, do you trust me?" he asked her.

"Of course I do," she said, as if the question offended her.

"Do you trust me when I tell you that I love you?"

"Yes," she said, but it sounded weak.

"Do you, really?" he asked again, sensing her hesitation.

"I believe you believe your feelings for me are true."

"They are."

"But what if—" he kissed her, stopping her before she could utter another word.

"No what ifs. I. Love. You. Do you trust me when I say that?" he asked, looking into her eyes and seeing the fear there, but there was also that spark he loved so much, that spark that showed him she was feeling everything he said deep in her soul.

"Yes, I trust you," she finally said after a few deep breaths.

"And do you love me?" he asked her then, his eyes never straying from hers. Regina smiled, nodding her head and leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

"I do," she said, and his smile was dazzling.

"Then that's all we need to know."

"But what about—" she started to ask, but he put a finger to her lips.

"Whatever comes, whatever trials are in our way, we will face them together. As long as you're mine, like I am yours, I don't care what happens or what anyone thinks."

"Robin, we can't pretend that my past doesn't play a part here, I captured your wife, took her from you, put you through hell without her, snatched Roland's mother away from him," she was starting to tear up now, her voice breaking, and Robin brought his lips to her cheeks and kissed those tears away as they fell.

"It's in the past, Regina… a past that doesn't even exist anymore. I love the person you are now, and everything that comes with it, including your ghosts and your demons."

"How can you say that?! Do you have any idea of the things I've done?!"

"I do, and I don't care."

"Someday you will, and then you'll leave, like everyone else. Not that I would blame you."

"Regina," he kissed her closed eyelids, wrapped his arms around her rolled over so that she was nestled on her side against him, his head leaning on the headboard, hers on his shoulder, "I understand why you're apprehensive about us, and that's my fault, but please, _please_ believe me when I say I never want to learn what it's like to live without you. I don't ever want to lose you again," his voice trembled as he finished speaking, but she was crying and smiling up at him, and he knew he'd gotten his point across.

"Now, how about you stop worrying so much, and let me kiss you?" he asked as he drew her closer, his lips descending on hers with fervor, savoring her, enjoying her, drawing out tiny moans and gasps from her, and he reveled in the way he affected her, loved every single one of her reactions, committed them to memory and when their lips separated, he whispered against her skin over and over again how much he'd missed her.

It was mere affection, not meant to go further, simply to show her how much he cherished her, but Regina had other plans, letting her tongue come out to play with his, lavishing his neck with wet, open-mouthed kisses, scratching her fingers against his stubble, threading them into his hair the way she knew would drive him crazy, until he was panting in her ear, his hips rocking slowly against hers without him meaning to.

"I'm sorry, you need your sleep," he said as he withdrew from her embrace, but she held on tight, arms locking around his shoulders as she rolled on her back and brought him with her, her eyes smoldering as she looked into his.

"I'm fine."

"You still have a fever," he said, bringing a hand to her neck and feeling the heat of her skin. It was miles from what it had been earlier, and he could tell she felt better, but she was still warm.

"That's not the fever," she told him seductively, "that's you."

"Oh?" he asked, his amusement now battling with the lust in his eyes as she nodded at him and bit her lip.

"You said you're mine," she breathed as he dipped his head down to place a kiss over her heart.

"I am, milady," he replied reverently.

"Then make me yours in return," she offered, her fingers already grabbing the hem of her pajama top, which he helped lift off her, revealing the naked, glorious skin beneath.

"Are you sure? You're still recovering," he tried to reason, though his hands were already traveling up her naked torso and cupping her bare breasts.

"I'm sure. I need you," she told him, and the sincerity in her eyes as she looked into his, the vulnerability he saw there, it was his undoing.

His mouth flew to hers, exchanging heated kisses and nipping at her bottom lip before he dipped his head down and blazed a trail down the column of her throat with his tongue, sucking at the hollow between her neck and shoulder and then kissing his way down her chest and to her breasts, lips closing around one perfect, pink nipple while his thumb and forefinger played with the other, drawing out a loud moan from her, making him chuckle.

"You know, Henry and Roland are just down the hall and probably still awake, if we're going to do this, we have to be quiet," he told her, and she heard the mirth in his tone.

"You make being quiet very difficult," she flirted, kissing the smirk off his face before collapsing back into the mattress, an arm over her face, her breathing heavy.

"Let me go check on the boys… and when they're asleep, you're mine," he growled against her neck, moving his face up to plant a wet kiss on her lips before he left the bed and walked out of the room.

To his surprise, Roland was out like a light, huddled in the tent he and Henry had put together with blankets hanging from the bookshelves and lamps. Henry, was nodding off while he tried to read from his book, though he blinked awake when he noticed Robin standing at his door.

"Is everything okay? Did something happen to mom?!" he asked frantically, but Robin raised a hand to appease him, muttering that everything was fine and he just wanted to make sure they'd settled in alright.

"Oh, yeah, we're fine, he wanted to play more but the moment he put his head on the pillow he was snoring. I should probably go to sleep too, I keep dozing off while I read," he smiled sheepishly.

"Alright, have a good night," Robin said, and then stopped his retreat when Henry called after him.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I told you at the hospital to stay away from her, to stop hurting her."

"Henry—" he began, about to explain himself, but the boy shook his head, signaling that he wasn't angry at him for being here.

"Thank you for taking care of her," he said instead, and Robin's breath hitched as he realized Henry probably had no idea of what had transpired between him and Regina. He knew what had happened with Elsa, of course, and he was smart, surely he'd deduced that his mother and Robin had gotten back together after spending the day with them here, but he didn't really _know_, and that needed to be remedied.

"I love your mother, Henry. I want to be with her… forever if she'll have me."

"Does she know that?"

"She's finding it a little hard to believe, and I suppose that's my fault, but I've told her of my feelings, yes. And I will tell her again, as many times as it takes."

"And Marian?" Henry asked, never one to ignore the elephant in the room.

"I'm leaving Marian. I'm in love with Regina, no one else," he said firmly, and Henry took a moment to think through his words before he nodded, giving him a small smile.

"I'm glad you've both decided to follow your hearts, then," he spoke with wisdom far beyond his years, and Robin was once again struck by the amount of love and magic this boy held in him. He might not have powers like his mothers do, but he loved deeply, and that drove him to solve inexplicable predicaments more easily than most of the adults around him.

"Thank you, Henry," he said, smiling at him and moving to leave the room, only to be stopped again.

"And Robin?" Henry called as he put the book away and settled under the covers.

"Yes?"

"You hurt her again, you're gonna have to deal with _me_." There was no malice behind his words, but Robin heard his warning loud and clear, and he couldn't help but feel proud of the boy for wanting to protect his mother so fiercely.

"Believe me, lad, you won't have to worry about that anymore."

With that, he turned off the light and walked back to Regina's room, smiling when he saw her, lying in bed with the comforter drawn up to her shoulders, hair in disarray, a small smile on her face when she caught sight of him.

"You were gone longer than I thought, they asleep?"

"Just about, but your son gave me a very stern talking-to," he said with a grin.

"Did he?"

"He's very protective of you, wanted to make sure I won't hurt you again," he told her, and the pain in his eyes told her that Henry's words had hit a nerve.

"Robin," she said, her hand touching his cheek tenderly.

"I told him he had nothing to worry about, that I love you, and that I'm not going anywhere," she knew what he was doing, enunciating each and every word as he looked deep into her eyes, as if that somehow helped cement them in her mind as well, and it did, making warmth spread through her as she closed her eyes and kissed him again.

Robin leaned into her, only moving his mouth away from her in order to remove his shirt as he settled on top of her over the covers, his hand cupping the back of her neck as he kissed her again and again, tasting her, loving her, playing with her hair while his other hand roamed her body over the comforter, and he cursed against her lips when he realized the thick fabric cut his access to her skin. Moving up, he removed the blasted thing from her body and gasped when he saw that she was completely naked underneath, Regina having removed what was left of her clothes while he was out of the room.

"You're even more beautiful than I remember," he rasped, taking in the sight of her from where he straddled her waist, his knees supporting his weight on either side of her as his hands explored her slowly, and she closed her eyes at the sensation, allowing herself to enjoy this moment, this closeness that she had missed so much.

"It hasn't been _that_ long," she teased, because it hadn't, really, barely a couple of weeks, even though it's felt like ages.

"Every second without you has been torture," he said against her breasts, sucking her nipple into his mouth again as his hands began to ghost down her body, fingers finding her wet and ready, aching for his touch. He didn't disappoint, sliding his thumb over her clit, his mouth still latched on to her breasts, releasing one nipple and taking the other, and she had to fight the urge to moan and just let him have her, but she managed it, stopping their actions by placing a hand on his arm and stilling her movements against his body.

"Did… did you and Marian…?" her question trailed off, but he caught on quickly, taking a moment to simply look at her, bask in the sight of her, flushed and aroused and nervous about his answer, and he felt a wave of relief knowing that for once, he could give her a truth that wouldn't hurt her.

"No," he said simply, and she took in a breath before she spoke again.

"That day at your place, after I dropped Roland off, I know you said you hadn't, but I thought… maybe things had changed? Maybe you wanted to try with her and see if…" she trailed off again, looking down and hating herself for sounding like an insecure teenage girl, but he was having none of it, burying his hand in her hair and using it to tilt her head up to look at him.

"I was never intimate with her. There was one night where I did… try… to fulfill my duty as a husband, but it felt off, so I stopped it before we even removed our clothes. It wasn't right."

"Why? I mean… she's your wife… and you loved her once. You lost her and she came back, it's what you always wanted, how could it feel wrong?"

"Because she wasn't you," he said simply, and the watery smile she gave him, paired with the way her nails scratched at his scalp, had him slowing down their previous frenzy, taking time to kiss and lick every bit of skin revealed to him as he moved down her body.

"It was your hair I wanted to thread my hands through," he said as he did just that, "your delicious lips I wanted to kiss," he continued, placing a searing kiss on her mouth before moving on to her neck and sucking at her pulse point, "your soft skin I wanted to touch," he murmured against her throat as his hand once again traveled down to play with her clit, "your voice I wanted to hear moaning my name," he thrust a finger inside her without warning, the surprise and force of his movement making her whimper as she rocked her hips against his hand. Robin then moved back up so he could look into her eyes, dark and heavy with lust as she held his gaze from under her lashes.

"I don't want anyone else," he told her, "I am and always will be yours."

With that, he brought his tongue down and into her mouth, sucked at her top lip and groaned when she circled her hips against the seam of his trousers, which were painful on him now that he was hard and in need of her. Robin removed the offending fabric from his body, with Regina clawing at his shirt in a clumsy attempt to help, tossing clothes aside on the floor until he was as naked as she was, and then she grabbed his face in her hands, bringing him down on top of her again and letting him rest the full weight of his body on her, kissing him like her life depended on it, crying out into his mouth when he slid two fingers inside her, and he crashed his mouth to hers again to try and keep her quiet, mindful of the two boys sleeping three doors down from theirs.

"Robin," she gasped as he continued to pump his fingers into her, curving them as his mouth suckled kisses on her neck, her shoulders, her breasts, down, down, down until his tongue was on her clit, and it was all Regina could do to bite the arm she'd thrown over her face to keep from screaming while he licked her up and down in slow, lingering motions, and then she was gasping for breath when he picked up speed and sucked at her clit, and she inwardly marveled at this new physical connection between them. They'd only been together once before, and he hadn't done this to her. That first time had been about exploring hands and lingering, soft kisses, about nervous movements that turned tender and loving as they found a rhythm together. Tonight was nothing like that. Tonight was raw heat and built-up tension, it was about reconnecting and chasing away the frustration of being apart for so long, about claiming one another, claiming their bodies for each other and each other alone, and the animalistic urge with which Robin panted the words "mine" and "need you" against her collarbone when he moved back up her body had Regina seeing explosions of color behind her closed eyelids, savoring the moment, responding with desperate whimpers and strangled moans that he muffled against his skin by cradling her head and bringing it to his shoulder.

She was close, so close, and so she stopped him, circling her fingers around his wrist where his fingers pumped into her and using her other hand to caress his cheek, drifting down to land on his neck as she looked at him. Saying nothing, she brought him towards her and kissed him again, slow and hot and wet, hands drifting down to his navel, and she smirked against his lips when he twitched at the feeling of her nails raking over his sensitive flesh, and then her other hand dropped to grasp him and gave him a firm tug, causing a low groan to escape from his mouth.

"That feels so good," he rasped against her mouth, panting heavily as she continued to pump him with her hand, loving the feeling of his smooth skin, the hardness of him as she continued to kiss him. Regina shifted a little further down on the mattress, bringing her knees up and opening her legs further, situating herself so that his tip teased her wet folds, and then she arched up into him and bit his shoulder, trying to stop herself from moaning out loud as he sheathed himself inside her.

The way he filled her was wonderful, heat and pressure and delicious friction all at once sending her into sensory overload. He put his weight on his elbows where they rested on either side of her head, his eyes two open and honest pools of the bluest blue as they looked into hers, whispers of love and devotion spilling from his lips as he began to move, his slow but firm thrusts keeping her dangling over the edge in a sinfully beautiful limbo that had him grunting and gasping as he brought his head down and licked and sucked at her nipples again.

"Robin," she gasped as she began to circle her hips to this blissfully slow rhythm of his, nails digging into the backs of his shoulders as she raised herself up to kiss him again, her tongue seeking his, the taste of him intoxicating and not enough all at once, and then his hand was back on her clit, rubbing firmly as he began to move faster, his mouth muffling the tiny screams that came out of her.

"Don't stop," she breathed against the stubble on his jaw, her teeth biting down, tongue lapping at the bite to soothe the sting when he flinched a little at the pain, and then he was growling against her, sucking at her right under her earlobe.

"You've no idea how sexy you sound right now," he told her, placing a kiss on her shoulder now and staying there as he moved, faster and harder into her when the smell of her hair reached him, the spicy scent of cinnamon reminding him that this is what he'd been missing, this was home, _she_ was home, her heat and her lips and her hair and her beautiful, resilient heart.

His fingers moved at a relentless pace on her clit now as he continued to thrust into her, and in seconds she was riding out her orgasm, her muscles clenching around him and sending him tumbling over the edge right along with her, their cries of ecstasy stifled against each other's parted lips.

Robin collapsed on top of her, his breaths heavy against her neck, but he was smiling, scrambling to cover her in kisses while she laughed lightly, turning on her side so that they were looking at each other, legs tangled and hands roaming, a sated look on her face.

"I missed you too," she echoed when he voiced the sentiment in a tone so low she had to strain to hear it, his eyes on hers, intense and overwhelming, and she turned in his arms, feeling the warmth of his chest against her back, letting him run his fingers up and down her arm as she basked in the afterglow.

"How about a shower?" he asked quietly, and Regina was already so close to surrendering to exhaustion that she wanted to tell him no, burrow closer to him and let sleep take her, but she could feel a slippery mess between her thighs where the remnants of his arousal were leaking out of her, and decided to acquiesce to his suggestion, nodding her head and getting up on wobbly knees, holding his hands as he walked backwards, leading her to the bathroom without taking his eyes off her, biting his lip as he reveled in her beauty.

* * *

**_Sooooo? Was it what you guys hoped it would be?_**

**_We're nearing the end! I'd expect we've got about 3 or 4 chapters to go and then that'll be it, though that's subject to change depending on where these adorable idiots take me while I write them (as a point of reference, this story was only supposed to be 15 chapters long, yet here we are)._**

**_I've started writing the Titanic crossover, though it's very early stages so I won't be posting that just yet, but I'm definitely working on it!_**

**_Thanks again for all your support, and enjoy the weekend!_**

**_-B_**


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